


t 






LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Chap.. _ Copyright No. 

Shelf__iT_55 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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HOW TO TEACH READING 



A TREATISE 

SHOWING THE RELATION OF READING TO 
THE WORK OF EDUCATION 



BY 



/ 



EMMA J. TODD 

Formerly Training Teacher in the Public Schools of Aurora, III. 

AND 

W. B. .POWELL, A.M. 

Superintendent of Public Schools, Washington, D.C. 




SILVER, BURDETT AND COMPANY 

New York BOSTON Chicago 
1899 






THE 

NORMAL COURSE IN READING. 

COMPRISING: - 

Primer : Preliminary Work in Reading ; 

First Reader : Word Pictures and Language Lessons ; 

Alternate First Reader : First Steps in Reading ; 
Second Reader : Select Readings and Culture Lessons ; 

Alternate Second Reader : Progressive Readings in Nature ; 
Third Reader : Diversified Readings and Studies ; 

Alternate Third Reader : How to Read with Open Eyes ; 
Fourth Reader: The Wonderful Things around Us; 
Fifth Reader: Advanced Readings in Literature — Scientific, 

Geographical, Historical, Patriotic, and Miscellaneous ; 
Primary Reading Charts : Preliminary Drill in Reading, 48 

numbers, 29x33 inches. Illustrated ; 
How to Teach Reading : A Treatise showing the Relation of 
Reading to the Work of Education. 



*■ 



2H858 



Copyright, 1899, 
By silver, BUPwDETT & COMPANY. 

TWO 00«»ieS RHC 'IVEO, 



{ JAKi 11399 




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Norfajooti 5Prfgs 

J. S. Gushing & Co. - Berwick & Smith 
Norwood Mass. U.S.A. 



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PREFACE 



The reading lesson should be made the most interesting exer- 
cise of the school. Why is this true ? Interest may be secured by 
teaching correctly. Reading may be taught correctly better by 
use of a book that is well adapted to the purpose than by one that 
is not. 

This manual has been prepared in the belief that the suggestions 
herein given will be valuable in securing correct and effective 
methods of teaching. The authors of the manual believe that the 
first requisite in teaching reading is to secure interest on the part 
of the child in the subject about which the matter of the reading 
lesson treats. This is fundamental. How such interest shall be 
created is for the teacher to determine. 

All psychological philosophy and every pedagogical considera- 
tion relating to the subject point to the fact that the interest of 
the child will be easily and naturally secured if he is made to 
come in contact with, or, so to speak, have experience with, the 
subject treated of in the lesson, — that is, the child should, by self- 
control, learn much of a subject before he learns to read about 
it. 

This manual urges the value of experience or of knowledge- 
getting on the part of the child, and the value of talking about 
such knowledge before an attempt is made to teach him the forms 
representing such knowledge. The child who has picked, exam- 
ined, and talked about a flower, and has become interested in it, 
and has used in his conversation the words his eyes are to see in 
the lesson he is to read, will be interested in learning such words 
by sight, and will learn them easily. The effort he puts forth to 
read will make a rich and permanent impression on his mind. 
The forms — spelling — will be more easily learned and more 

3 



4 PREFACE 

firmly fixed (remembered) than will be the case if he reads or 
attempts to learn these words without previous preparation. Will 
the teacher tell why this is true? 

The authors of this manual believe that much of the teacher's 
time may be spent profitably in getting the child ready to read, 
and that this is desirable each and every time the young child 
reads. The purpose of teaching reading, after all, is to give the 
child ability or power to see thought, relativity of thought, and 
even delicacy or refinement of thought through and beyond words. 
To grow into the ability to do this the child should learn words 
from the standpoint of knowing (his own knowing). The differ- 
ence between singing notes and singing music is no greater — 
although in one case there is music while in the other case there 
is no music — than is the difference between reading w^hich is 
done from the standpoint of forms or words and that which is 
done from the standpoint of knowing. 

This manual appears for the purpose of urging the importance 
of teaching reading properly from the beginning of the child's 
school life, that the desirable results above alluded to may be 
the fruitage of the child's education in learning to read. He 
should know and talk, then learn reading. The more the child 
knows and the more he talks about it, the more interesting will 
it be for him to read on that subject. 

The more he knows before he begins to learn to read, the 
more certain it is that he will want to read, and the more he 
knows, the more certain it is after he has learned to read that 
he will read. "Read and you will know" is the very reverse of 
the true philosophy of teaching primary reading. Know first, 
read next, is the philosophy by which the child is made to feel that 
reading matter has something in store for him. Ability to read 
words will not insure the habit of reading for improvement. A 
knowledge of reading must come through knowing — precedent 
to the art of learning to read. 

THE AUTHORS. 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Correct Language Teaching the Proper Prepara- 
tion FOR learning to Read 7 

Nature Study — Its Use and Purpose in Teaching 

Reading 15 

Talking Lessons preparatory to the Teaching of 

Reading . . 25 

Plans of Some Lessons that should be Given ... 27 

Pictures : Their Use and Purpose 31 

Reproduction of Stories 36 

The Study of Nature 36 

The Use of Phonics 45 

AYiiat should the Beginner read? .... 47 

First Steps in Reading — Blackboard Lessons . . 48 

REGULAR SERIES. 



Charts and Primer 

Summary of Work in First Steps 

From Script to Print 

Plans and Outlines . 
First Reader 

Plans and Outlines . 
Second Reader 

Plans and Outlines . 



55 
55 
55 
58 
62 
65 
72 
75 



6 CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Third Reader 80 

Plans and Outlines 84 

Fourth Reader 98 

Our Beautiful World 100 

Plans and Outlines 102 

Plant Life and Animal Life of the Earth . . . 110 

Our Government and People Ill 

Plans and Outlines 113 

Fifth Reader 117 

ALTERNATE SERIES 121 



HOW TO TEACH READING. 



o>»^c 



CORRECT LANGUAGE TEACHING, 

THE PROPER PREPARATION FOR LEARNING TO READ. 

The ultimate purpose of learning to read is that training 
which will give its possessor the power to see the concrete 
as clearly in the written description as the trained eye 
would see the thing described ; to feel the emotion ex- 
]3ressed as his own ; to understand the willing or the con- 
clusions expressed, as if willing, doing, or making the 
conclusions himself ; to recreate — make a distinct and in- 
telligible consciousness out of the symbols read. 

Learning to read may be considered under two general 
heads : First, learning the symbols in which the known is 
preserved; second, learning how to use these symbols so 
as to add to one's store of knowledge. 

Or (to express the same in a different way) : First, learn- 
ing to recognize the forms of speech — words, signs, idioms, 
sentences, discourse, symbols representing what is definitely 
in the mind of the learner ; second, learning to get infor- 
mation from these various forms of speech. 

The more faithfully forms of speech represent correct 
ideas existing in the mind of the learner when he learns 
them, the better is he x^repared for the second part of learn- 
ing to read. Words or other signs, if learned as the 
symbols of imperfect or incorrect ideas, indefinite or false 

7 



8 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

relations, will ever after be misleading, or, when their true 
meanings have become known, will always need to be 
translated. 

The child's first effort in learning to read mnst be to rec- 
ognize his own words, representing his own knowing, his 
own thinking, his own feeling, his own willing, his own 
concluding, his own doing. It is of the highest importance 
that these words stand for both correct and exact ideas. 

The vocabulary which the child brings to school does not, 
if a small percentage of words be excepted, represent exact- 
ness. A few names stand for the right things, whereas 
many or most of his words representing qualities, feelings, 
abstractions, are not the symbols in any degree of exactness 
of the ideas for which they really stand, as they exist in his 
own mind. It is unwise to teach him these as symbols of 
what they now represent to him. It is unwise to character- 
ize the beginnings of his school education by such indefi- 
niteness or obscurity. 

As a preparation for learning to read, the child must 
have exact ideas, and must be made to express the same 
correctly. The wider the range of ideas, the more diversi- 
fied the knowing and thinking consistent with sequence and 
unity ; the more nearly they represent all the functions of 
the mind, however childlike their manifestations, the more 
rapidly and perfectly will the child appreciate the symbolic 
nature of words, seeing in them entities, living realities ; 
the more rapidly will he learn to read, and the more de- 
lightful will this be to him. With how great enjoyment 
does he see his own thought in the graphic symbols of his 
own spoken words ! 

Not only, therefore, must the child think, and think cor- 
rectly, but the teacher must know what and how he thinks, 
for under no other conditions can it be known by the 
teacher that he speaks correctly and with exactness. 

How soon in the average school work does the child 
learning to read reach a point in his progress where the 



CORRECT LANGUAGE TEACHING. 9 

reading matter is too difficult for him ! The reason should 
be sought. The trouble is not that he cannot be made 
to pronounce the words, for this can be accomplished, so 
thorough may be the school drill and so inevitable the 
mechanical results of prescribed processes. The reason is 
not far to seek. The words and sentences represent ideas 
and thoughts that have never had a lodgment in his mind ; 
more than this, he has never learned symbols of correspond- 
ing ideas and thoughts by which these may be interpreted. 
Persistent drilling on such words as these will do little 
toward teaching the child to read. 

Much reading of matter similar to that previously read 
in his progress does not prepare the child to advance satis- 
factorily. This has been demonstrated times without num- 
ber by the addition of supplementary reading matter. 

The studying of definitions given in the book will do little 
good; definitions carefully given by an intelligent teacher 
will do little good. The child must be given experiences 
represented by the words he is to learn, or experiences simi- 
lar to them. He must be trained in broader lines of seeing, 
feeling, planning and doing. He must be led into the field 
of imagination and be made to create thought. He must 
be exercised in fields of emotional activity : of love, hatred, 
generosity, caution, fear, etc., and then he must be helped to 
express all these sensations or feelings, and must learn 
their symbols as the representatives of what exists in his 
own mind. With this preparation he can advance in learn- 
ing to read. 

The child must be made to know more, step by step, in 
advance of his learning to read, and, at first, what he reads 
must represent what he knows. These preparations will be 
to him his true interpreters of what he afterwards reads on 
the same subjects. They will be the keys to the dictionary, 
making lists of synonymous words intelligible to him. 

Knowing is the only safe compass and helmsman in the 
boundless and dangerous sea of emotional activity ; the 



10 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

only source whence proceeds determinative, profitable, crea- 
tive activity ; the only reliable enginery of willing, whether 
it be concluding or doing. 

Subjects of thought must be presented to the chiM first 
through the senses. He must be made to know through 
original channels of information. 

The best possible work in exact seeing is the study of 
forms offered in exercises that come under the head of draw- 
ing. The lessons given under this head are, first, the mod- 
eling of forms in clay in imitation of forms presented to the 
child. These lessons train his eye, his judgment and his 
hand — coworkers for the accomplishment of a definite pur- 
pose. Then he is carefully trained to talk about the forms 
he has made. 

Other kinds of work under the head of drawing are stick- 
laying, paper-folding and combining geometric forms in 
wood or in paper, all of which, after being made, are repre- 
sented with pencil, or in color, and in turn are described. 
Some of these are compared and the processes of doing 
given, which is narration. It is thus seen that much exact 
language training is possible under the head of drawing. 
Good work will begin simultaneously with the number les- 
sons which take their start in the form lessons, in making 
simple problems and in solving them. 

Much good work can be done for a short time by naming 
the objects in a room and stating their relative positions and 
some of their qualities, by the use of simple pictures for de- 
scription and story ; by making tableaux of children and their 
playthings for a like purpose. These, however, without too 
much labor on the part of the teacher, soon become exhausted. 

No other subjects readily comprehensible, and at the 
same time interesting to the child, offer such opportunities 
for seeing, for training in the exact use of a broad vocabu- 
lary, available for general purposes and to a limited extent 
already possessed by the child, as does the study of natural 
history and elementary physics. 



CORRECT LANGUAGE TEACHING. 11 

Comparison of forms, sizes, colors, number, uses, posi- 
tions, affords wide scope for exact seeing of likenesses and 
differences, for intelligent conclusions, and for the exact 
expression of such seeing and such concluding. 

The amount of training which it is possible to give young 
children in correct seeing and correct thinking, in the 
early drawing and number lessons, and by the use of nat- 
ural objects, plants, animals and the human body, is very 
great. Material for such lessons, moreover, is easily ob- 
tained and prepared by the teacher. 

By the means thus indicated for inciting the child to 
thought and for directing him in his thinking, it is easy to 
give the best training in the use of language, which training 
is the best possible, indeed the only proper, preparation for 
learning to read. 

It will therefore be seen that, whereas the study of 
elementary science educates by training the child's percep- 
tions, his comparing and reasoning faculties, as no other 
study can do at this stage of his education, and while it at 
the same time enriches his mind with knowledge, its intro- 
duction at this period is chiefly to furnish a means of accu- 
rate and determinative training in the English language. 
The work is not done that the child may learn and recite 
facts, but that he may see facts, and thus be led to use 
language for exact and correct expression. 

This work, if properly done, is far-reaching in its edu- 
cative effects, whether mind development or language 
training be its purpose ; for objects are not studied in a 
heterogeneous way, but are presented in groups whose parts 
are related. For instance, if a leaf is studied, several kinds 
of leaves must be studied in connection therewith. These, 
by a perception of their differences, must be separated into 
groups, after which many leaves may be found by the child, 
each of which he, deciding for himself, must place in the 
proper group. If an animal (as the squirrel) is studied, two 
or more animals belonging to the gnawing group of a.nimals 



12 HOW TO TEACH EEADING. 

must be studied also, that relations may be seen, compari- 
sons made, and conclusions drawn therefrom. 

There is, moreover, idiom of the English language which 
])elongs to description ; this the child gets by the help of the 
teacher when he describes the thing examined. There is 
English idiom used only in comparing ; this the child learns 
and uses when comparing or contrasting the objects con- 
sidered. There is English idiom belonging to narration; 
this the child is helped to get by the teacher, and this he 
uses when telling the story of the growth, or of the life, the 
incidents of capture, of finding, or of buying what he has 
examined, described and compared. Thus his vocabulary 
is enriched by idiom that will never be there as a possession 
except by some such means. Now when the child sees the 
words for the first time, they are not meaningless to him ; 
he greets them as friends, though friends whom he has 
never before seen. The reading of good English with such 
preparation is not only easy to the child, but soon becomes 
a delight to him. 

In addition to the kinds of work above named, vapor, 
with its phenomena of steam, cloud, mist, fog, rain, hail, 
snow, is taught by experiment and objects as a beginning 
of the study of geography, as well as for the special pur- 
pose of language training and of proper preparation for 
reading. In this subject is presented a kind of learning 
(|uite different from anything the child has had before, 
namely, discovering by experiment. Water under the in- 
fluence of heat turns to steam, leaves the receiver and, for 
a moment, is lost to sight, when, by the influence of cold, it 
returns to view as mist, and soon looks into his face from 
the side of an ice pitcher. 

In the various parts of this interesting and most practica- 
ble work, excellent opportunity is found for training the 
productive imagination in the exercise of the creative func- 
tions of the mind, the foundation for which is securely laid 
in the many facts learned. As the child presents the sup- 



CORRECT LANGUAGE TEACHING. 13 

posed history or biography of a drop of water on the pane 
of glass, or other like subject, the teacher can judge of the 
intelligence with which it is done, for he can estimate by 
known laws, and thus know whether the imagination of the 
talker or writer is clear, healthy, and under control, or is 
clouded, unintelligent, undirected, or visionary. 

Such work broadens the vocabulary, gives subjects for 
conversation and composition, and prepares the child to 
read good literature, under whose influence he is morally 
safe, by whose teachings he is made wiser, happier, and 
better. This cannot be said of much of the reading that 
many children select w^ithout such training, nor do we 
believe it is true of much of the reading matter — though 
presented as choice and classical — called '' fairy tales." 

While the distinctive purpose of teaching reading in the 
first three grades of the school is to make the pupils know 
the symbols representing their own knowledge and mental 
processes, much practice is given in reading the same and 
kindred facts and processes as expressed by accepted 
authorities. This is done to broaden the vocabularies of 
the children and to teach the kindred significance of words. 
Much reading is done also to get information similar to 
that in the possession of the children, to be interpreted by 
it and assimilated with it. 

Learning to read should do much toward training the 
attention and the judgment. This should result in con- 
scious power. As, in the preparation for learning to read, 
the pupil learns to know and to feel his ability to investi- 
gate and to decide through original channels of informa- 
tion, so now he must gain a corresponding coufidence in his 
ability to investigate, to see and to know through symbolic 
channels. 

In the fourth grade the reading begins to be more dis- 
tinctively for the purpose of getting information, and this 
feature is more and more characterized through the remain- 
ing grades. Great care is required in the transition. For 



14 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

this purpose, the text is illustrated by objective work or 
experiment, or is supplemented by tests for truth and for 
application, the effort being, as stated in another place, to 
train the learner to see accurately and to know exactly by 
reading. 

No greater care is required in any reading lessons than 
in those belonging to this transition period. 

The historical story begun in the fourth grade can be 
understood only by examination of many objects represent- 
ing the lives and customs of the people and times studied, 
and by intelligent comparison of the same with correspond- 
ing objects representing the lives and customs of the people 
of to-day. Objective work is all-important in this grade of 
school, but its use is for another purpose than that for 
which it is given in the lower grades. 

The greater the variety of categories the broader will be 
the foundation for learning from symbols, and the greater 
the variety of experience within a given category the more 
deeply will the child understand the experiences, reflections, 
and conclusions of others as represented by symbols relat- 
ing to that. category. As the subject grows, the field of 
literature widens, both the part that is used as an inspira- 
tion and the part that is used for more knowledge getting, 
better understanding, and further application. This kind 
of work leads directly into the whole held of literature, for 
it starts from two points of interest with experience getting, 
whether of nature or the social world, affecting the child. 
The child is experiencing his way out and up ; out of em- 
bryonic condition into individualism or identity; up from 
I)assivity, the creature of environment, to self-directed ac- 
tivity in which he uses environment for self-growth and 
pleasure. 

There is no uncertain fiction, no fable, no danger; there 
is truth and only truth, and that in its best array. 



NATURE STUDY. 

TTS AIMS AND PURPOSE IN TEACHING READING. 

'^ Nature, the old nurse, took 
The child upon her knee. 
Saying, ' Here is a story book 
Thy Father hath written for thee. 

" ' Come wander with me,' she said, 
' Into regions yet untrod. 
And read what is still unread 
In the manuscripts of God.' " 

These " manuscripts " are full of beautiful pictures. On 
their pages are inscribed stories more wonderful to children 
than fairy lore. If trained to use their eyes and ears, they 
may Avander happily in this fairyland of science ; for 

" Whether we look or whether we listen. 
We hear life murmur or see it glisten." 

Says Miss Buckley, ''No person is so independent as he 
who can find interest in a bare rock, a drop of water, the 
foam of the sea, the spider on the wall, the flower underfoot, 
or the stars overhead." And these interests are open to 
every one who enters the fairyland of nature. He who goes 
through the world with his eyes open is constantly learn- 
ing, and is ever in possession of means of enjoyment. 

An important purpose in the study of nature is to call 
into activity those powers upon the exercise of which the 
growth of intelligence depends. Every study should be 

15 



16 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

valued in proportion as it develops power; power is de- 
veloped by self-activity. Self-activity is tlie fundamental 
law of human growth. Through self-activity the child at- 
tains to self-reliance, without which there can be no true 
character formation. He who induces self-activity syste- 
matized to a purpose, educates in a true sense. 

The kind of knowledge gained in school work is deter- 
mined by the subjects presented, but it must be remembered 
also, that the kind of activity excited depends on the method 
of presentation as well as on the subjects presented. 

Eeal training, as it is related to the observing powers, 
means the leading of the learner to so use each of his senses 
that the highest development will result. The trained 
mind sees, hears, tastes, smells, feels and acts for definite 
purposes. 

A knowledge of the elements of form, size, color, weight, 
extension, tastes, odors, sounds, etc., must come by a study 
of things. Verbal descriptions, however concise and clear 
they may be, cannot give to the young learner a knowledge 
of the external Avorld. True ideas result from sense impres- 
sions, experiences. AVhat is better adapted to this end than 
nature study — the study of the child's physical environ- 
ment ? 

Thought is evolved by the continued attention of the 
mind to a particular subject. This thought the child must 
be trained to express clearly and truthfully. What ideas 
can be expressed so clearly, so concisely and truthfully as 
those which are clear and exact because gained through 
self-activity ? 

The child handles the objects, and learns through the 
fingers, the muscles, the sight, in correlation with the brain. 
He sees, does, finds out, thinks, and so knows. He so 
blends his seeing, feeling, doing, thinking, with represent- 
ing, that the result is knowing with the ability to express 
intelligently what he knows. Thus directed he acquires 
the habit of careful, accurate and comprehensive observa- 



NATURE STUDY. 17 

tioii, and of clear, concise thought and expression, with the 
ability to read iinderstandingly ; for he has established and 
symbolized interpreting concepts. 

Merely seeing a thing is not getting knowledge of it. It 
must be thought about, adjusted to other things, compared 
with something else, — the likenesses and differences noted, 
— the essentials and the non-essentials distinguished; and 
then it must be represented in symbols. One can compare 
readily, carefully, and accurately if he have the objects for 
constant reference. If in this work of comparison the pupil 
is carefully guided in drawing conclusions from facts dis- 
covered, and then in verifying these conclusions by further 
observation and experiment, the power of judging correctly 
will be developed and strengthened ; then, if he is trained 
to express in correct words, to symbolize, words will have 
the right meaning to him. 

The creative or constructive faculty is especially active 
in childhood. But the imagination merely unites and re- 
arranges the material with which the senses have furnished 
it ; it can do no more than build upon one of these. 

In nature study, excellent opportunities are found for 
training, exercising, and controlling the child's imagination 
in the games which he may be taught to play, and in the 
stories wdiich he may be led to make, the foundation of 
which is securely laid in the many facts discovered. 

" What is more charming or helpful for such w^ork than 
the story of the mother tree who, after putting her baby 
buds to sleep — covered with a soft white blanket, a green 
quilt, and a waterproof coverlet — herself goes to sleep, 
prej)aratory to the labor which she must perform in weav- 
ing beautiful garments for these same babies when awak- 
ened in the springtime ? " 

What is more interesting than the story of the baby plant 
lying asleep in its seed cradle until awakened by the rain 
and the sunshine ? What is more pleasing than the work 
of ^^ Jack Frost"? 



18 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

" Some one has been at the windows, 
Marking on every pane ; 
Who made those glittering pictures 
Of lacework, fir trees, and grain ? " 



" The little brook heard it and built a roof, 
'Neath which it housed hira winter proof ; 
All night by the white stars' frosty gleams 
He groined his arches and matched his beams," 

Poetry is filled with such imaginative touches, but how is 
the child to create the appropriate pictures unless he has a 
store of memories for interpreting the symbols — words ? 

True poetry is so beautiful that it seems not unreasonable 
to believe that it must have been Avritten in the presence of 
inspiring actualities. 

By giving personality to animate and inanimate objects, 
the bare facts of science may be w^oven into fanciful webs, 
thereby developing healthy and safe imagination. The 
field for such training is inexhaustible. 

If rightly taught, he who studies nature will gain the 
power to see and to enjoy beauty; w^ill have a deep abid- 
ing love for nature ; w^ill hold " communion wdth her visible 
forms ^' ; will interpret her " various language." 

Love for investigating nature creates love for the beauti- 
ful ; love of order ; admiration for wise laws and perfect 
organism. If this love be nourished, it becomes a strong 
element in the formation of character. Clear seeing, earnest 
thinking, and reverent feeling should come from the true 
study of nature. 

A thorough scientific course is not possible nor necessary 
in the elementary schools, but the study may be wholly 
scientific so far as it goes. One should not seek to exhaust 
a subject. Groups or units of related subjects should be 
given, to enable the children to make comparisons, to draw 
conclusions, to group, and to classify. The marvelous adap- 
tation of structure to habits and uses should be discovered 
by the children. 



NATURE STUDY. 19 

The plant should be studied in its relation to climate, air, 
water, soil and heat ; the animal in relation to its environ- 
ment, nourishment and support. 

The learner must be trained to see the changes through 
which the rock has passed or is passing ; the forces which 
affect the earth and its inhabitants, and the series of trans- 
formations of a drop of water. 

AYhat a field for delightful work in reading is botany ; the 
study of plant life, that which the child sees unfolding and 
developing everywhere about him, abundant and beautiful, 
necessary to his own existence ! 

In the study of the plant, its root, stem and leaves — he 
learns with delight that each part has a work to do ; that 
each plant comes from a seed ; and he becomes interested in 
planting seeds ; he watches with increased pleasure the 
germination of the seed as it unfolds into root, stem and 
leaves, for he finds 

" As wonderful things are hidden away 
In the heart of a little brown seed, 
As ever were found in the fairy nut 
Of whicli children sometimes read." 

The unfolding buds are studied and watched with pleasure 
as they develop into leafy branches or beautiful flowers. 

"The careless eye can find no grace, 
No beauty in the scaly folds, 
Nor see within the dark embrace 
The loveliness it holds." 

The dainty flowers growing by the wayside tell their story 
of beauty and love, and are fragrant with the secrets of 
their growth and usefulness. If rightly studied, they lead 
to an understanding of what Tennyson meant when he 
wrote, 

" Flower in the crannied wall, 
I pluck you out of the crannies, 



20 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

Hold you here, root and all, in my hand, 
Little flower ; — but if I could understand 
What you are, root and all, and all in all, 
I should know what God and man is." 

The study of leaves has a charm for the child if it is 
made in the season of leaves. Just as true is it also of roots, 
stems, flowers and fruits. 

By simple steps, each of which is taken many times, the 
child advances in the study, year by year, until he acquires 
a knowledge of plant life. His mind during these processes 
is strengthened, his breadth of seeing and thinking is en- 
larged, for the study has involved his knowledge of the 
phenoinena of cold and warm weather, of wet and dry 
weather, of sunshine and cloud, of springtime and summer, 
of fall and winter; and his experiences, because of other 
relations of life than those of his school, have been made to 
form a part of his knowledge as one compact interrelated 
entirety, and to do office in that training which gives him 
power to see and strength to discover, cause and effect. 

A most fruitful and interesting source for such training 
is the observation and investigation of animal life. The 
structure, mode of living, the wonderful, natural instinct, 
and the peculiar adaption of structure to habits in animals 
are especially interesting to the child. He enjoys studying 
and reading about the habits and the homes of his friends 
in feathers and fur. 

Where is there a child who does not love birds ? He 
listens to their song, is pleased with their plumage, watches 
them building their nests and rearing their young. He 
likes to talk about them, and, if intelligently guided, he 
may be trained to glean for himself many interesting facts. 

He may 

" Learn of every bird its language. 
Learn their names and all their secrets, 
How they build their nests in summer. 
Where they hide themselves in winter, 
Talk with them where'er he meets them." 



NATURE STUDY. 21 

Out of the study of animals and plants should grow an 
increased power in accurate, related seeing; a knowledge of 
the objects studied, and the power to express clearly and 
concisely the knowledge gained. 

The work here indicated is possible in the schoolroom; 
fortunately, also, it is the most profitable work that can be 
done for the accomplishment of those mechanical results 
which the school is expected to secure. 

In a corresponding way the study of minerals is equally 
profitable. 

The work thus far has for its purpose, first, that training 
which leads to the perception of facts without reference to 
their cause — facts of size, color and form, of which the 
vegetable, animal, and mineral world furnish so great and 
so delightful a variety, — and, second, the perception of 
these facts and also of their use or purpose, which involves 
an effort to discover cause and to see effect. 

The materials for use in training the child in these two 
steps are easily obtained. Their investigation affords him 
a most delightful occupation, which correlates mental and 
physical activity in the acquisition of knowledge, thus in- 
suring improvement in both. 

Along a corres]3onding line, and of great interest to chil- 
dren, is observation of other natural phenomena. The child 
takes pleasure in observing the rain, the snow, the feathery 
frost, the dark, gray clouds, the light, fleecy ones, the glow 
of the sunset, the rainbow hues so charmingly blended ; 
and he likes to tell of his observation. 

As he advances in his work, he studies vapor with its 
phenomena of steam, cloud, fog, mist, rain, sleet, hail and 
snow. Water under the influence of heat turns to steam 
which, leaving the kettle and coming in contact with cold, 
turns to Avater mist and then quietly floats away. This the 
child observes, and feels that perhaps the cloud is lost, 
until by further observation he discovers the mist slowly 
forming on the window pane or other cold surface. By 



22 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

repeated efforts, by slow stages, he learns the causes of 
clouds and their precipitation as rain. He sees the morning 
mist, rising from the sidewalk or other wet surface as water 
dust, being carried away to be formed into drops and re- 
turned again to the hilltop as water; by slow degrees and 
easy steps he learns that the sun is lifting the water from 
the sea and from every other place where water is found, 
in whatever form, to the skies, where it is gathered and 
drifted and cooled, to be returned to the earth. 

By easy steps he is led to see the influence of water in its 
varied forms upon the earth's soil and rocks, leading there- 
from to the causes of the formation of valleys, of brooks, 
streams and rivers. 

In doing the work suggested, the child is assigned very 
few if any tasks. He is led to put forth purposive effort by 
an interest that the teacher arouses in him in the subjects 
under consideration. The principles of the Kindergarten 
are continued in the primary school, making the acquire- 
ment of knowledge pleasurable. 

While doing this work, he is learning to read by reading 
many stories and descriptions and poems, relating to and 
based upon the work which he does, and which enables him 
to understand thoroughly what he reads. He is interested 
in what he reads, because it is the confirmation and expan- 
sion of what he knows to be true, as found by his own 
efforts. Very few, if any, tasks are assigned, yet the child 
is becoming an original investigator; he is learning to 
use English for the expression of exact ideas in their exact 
relation. 

If the purpose of the work be only to teach the child to 
read, no more profitable plan nor one more certain of true 
success could be adopted. If the purpose be merely to teach 
him to talk correctly, to use his mother tongue for a pur- 
pose, accurately and at the same time exactly, no better 
scheme could be devised. If the purpose be to train the 
child to see, to discover, to project, to observe, to image, and 



NATURE STUDY. 23 

to draw conclusions within the limits of the possibilities of 
his mind, no better process could be employed. 

"He alone can use language with freedom, certainty, and 
accuracy who is conscious of needing for the expression of 
his thoughts all the words and phrases Avhich he employs." 
In the study of nature the child has something to say, he 
desires to say it, he appreciates the necessity of words to 
express his thought, which words, under such conditions, 
when written on the board, make deeper impressions than 
the same class of words woven into sentences not his own. 

In nature study, the interest of the child may be secured 
and may be increased as advancement is made in the work, 
for hidden beauties in nature will clearly appear. The 
nature lessons which the child finds in his readers are 
interesting to him because he is able to form true mental 
pictures of what he reads. 

Much collateral matter should be read. This is done to 
broaden the children's vocabularies, and to teach the 
kindred significance of words. Supplementary reading, 
to be of real value to children, should have for its object 
the giving to them a better knowledge of the subject which 
they are studying; thus will concentration be secured. 

The children should be encouraged to find matter in their 
home reading pertaining to the subject, and bring it to the 
recitation. Apposite poetry should be read. Through such 
study and reading they begin to see what the poet sees and 
to understand what he thinks. They will reap the benefit 
of the poet's clear vision, and will learn not only to observe 
but to interpret nature. By this means, pupils may be led 
to appreciate and to enjoy poetry Avorthy of a place in the 
library of a scholar. They learn how to use books, and 
form a habit of using them for a purpose. 

Along this line of reading, enjoyable and of literary 
value, are the pretty nature myths, the pleasing fairy tales, 
that class of highly imaginative literature in which the 
moral is most ingeniously interwoven, but which can 



24 now TO TEACH READING. 

scarcely be appreciated, even by older pupils, so that real 
benefit is deduced therefrom unless there has been intel- 
ligent observation and study of nature. 

The child should be led into the field of imaginative 
literature; but how mnch more satisfactory, how much 
safer it will be, if his knowledge be based on his own 
observation and investigation ! 

oSTature study, as it should be ]3resented in our primary 
schools, is incomplete without the aid of literature ; while 
any study of literature, however elementary, shows one that 
knowledge of nature, full and sympathetic, is indispensable 
to intelligent reading. 

This truth is easily recognized in reading poems of nature. 
The works of our best poets — Whittier, Longfellow, Holmes, 
Bryant, Wordsworth, Lowell, Tennyson and many others — 
cannot be read with the love and appreciation they so richly 
deserve unless the study of nature has furnished a large 
part of the early training. Many of the productions of 
these authors may be beautifully adapted to child reading. 
Those lessons, so poetically figurative, yet so true to nature, 

found 

"111 the birds' nests of the forest, 
In the lodges of the beaver, 
In the green and silent valley 
By the pleasant watercourses, ' ' 

may be intelligently interpreted, and become a source of 
pleasure to pupils in proportion as their observation and 
instinctive love of nature have been correctly cultivated. 

This work, however, requires ideal teaching. It is not 
accomplished by the assignment of lessons on the part of 
the teacher ; nor by conning on the part of the child. It is 
reached by self-imposed purposive activity on the part of 
the child ; it is induced by a loving appreciation of the way 
the child learns, and by a broad, intellectual, thoroughly 
planned leading, on the part of the teacher. 



TALKING LESSONS 

PREPARATORY TO THE TEACHING OF READING. 

The average child of six years who enters the primary 
grade without having had the advantages of true Kinder- 
garten training is not prepared to learn to read. 

Much valuable time is lost by attempting to teach the 
child to recognize words and forms of words before he is 
ready for such teaching. The distaste which many a child 
has formed for reading is due to the great effort he has 
made to do the work imposed upon him prematurely. 

The teacher who feels that her most important duty is to 
teach her pupils to recognize one or more words by sight 
the first day of school has not mastered the simplest ele- 
ments of the psychology of reading. 

The first work of the teacher should be to get acquainted 
with each child. She should find out what each one 
knows in various directions ; what his environments are ; 
what he is most interested in ; his power to give attention 
and to follow directions: — in short, she should know his 
capabilities. 

Then she should take the children as she finds them. 
Every subject which she teaches should be used as the 
means for cultivating good taste and good habits, — habits 
of attention, of helpfulness, of industry, of truthfulness, of 
politeness, of genuineness in thought and expression. 

When the child enters school, his interests are centered 
in his friends, his home, his i^ets, his playthings, games, 
simple processes, food and clothing. Animals, plants, 
leaves, flowers, fruit, stones, pictures, colors and toys fas- 

25 



26 now TO TEACH HEADING. 

cinate or charm liim. This interest furnishes the key for 
the selection of material for future work. 

How is he to be prepared for the work in reading ? 

First, by a systematically planned course of conversational 
lessons, in which he does most of the talking, on subjects 
about which he is eager to ask questions and to express his 
own opinions. 

Second, by a systematically planned course of lessons in 
manual effort, — in modeling, drawing, painting, stick-laying, 
paper-cutting, in making objects and in molding in sand. 

The subjects about which he should learn and be led to 
talk are those concerning which he will in the next step be 
called upon to read. 

The teacher should carefully examine the matter given 
in the Charts, Primer and First Readers of " The Kormal 
Course in Reading." She should study the purpose of the 
work given therein. She should carefully note the vocabu- 
lary — words and composition idiom. She should plan to 
secure specimens sufficient in number for individual study. 

In the observation and experiment work the teacher 
should train the child to see, and to tell in good language 
what he sees, until his vocabulary is enriched by a score of 
composition idioms, and until he has some power to use his 
vocabulary for exact expression. The time and effort will 
be repaid by the rapidity and ease with which he Avill learn 
to recognize at sight the words which he uses. 

While the children are having talking lessons preparatory 
to reading, many sentences are repeated again and again by 
the teacher in directing pupils in their work. Let the 
teacher, after giving a direction or a command, write the 
sentence on the board, and let it remain there. Then, when 
this command is to be repeated, let the teacher point to it, 
asking what the sentence tells them to do. Then another 
command may be written instead of spoken. By this plan 
children will easily recognize during the first month a dozen 



TALKING LESSONS. 27 

or more sentences, learning to know them by sight just as 
they learn to know them by sound. 



Plans of Some of the Lessons that should be given Prepara- 
tory TO Peading. 

Training the Sense of Touch. 

Have a cliild close his eyes. Give liim an object to handle. Take 
it away and put it out of sight. 

Have liini open his eyes and find an object just like the one he 
handled. Let the other children decide whether he is right or wrong. 

Have a child close his eyes. Give hihr an object. Take it away. 
Give him one like the first except in size. Have him state wherein 
the two are alike ; in what they are unlike. 

Cover the eyes. Give a child an object. Take it away. Give him 
one like it except in hardness. Have him state in what they are alike ; 
in what they differ. 

Use objects differing in length ; in width ; in roughness ; in ma- 
terial, etc. 

Follow with exercises using objects alike in shape but differing in 
size and material, etc. ; as, a wooden ball and a smaller ball made 
of rubber or of yarn. 

Give tests in distinguishing slight differences in weight and tem- 
perature. 

Training the Sense of Hearing. 

Place on a table in front of the class objects made of wood, glass, 
iron, brass, silver, china, etc. Have pupils observe them and tell of 
what each is made. 

Strike the objects, having pupils listen and state each time what was 
struck. 

Have pupils cover their eyes. Strike one of the objects. Pupils 
decide which one was struck. Give several similar tests. 

Have pupils look and listen as each is struck with a different ma- 
terial from that used first. 

Have pupils cover the eyes, then, as an object is struck, state what 
was struck, and with what (steel, wood, etc.). 

Have pupils cover the eyes. Strike three objects. 

Have pupils tell what was done, naming the order in which the 
objects were struck. 



28 HOW TO TEACH BEADING. 

Have a pupil strike the objects, other pupils stating what was struck. 
Real sense training and improved expression should be the result 
of this work. 

For work in slow pronunciation see page 58. 

Quoting from Dr. Barr in Child Study : — 

" Teachers should keep in view the fact that, in every 
class of fifty children, there are probably a dozen or more 
of them who have some defect of hearing, and who are 
therefore placed at a disadvantage as compared with their 
normally hearing fellows. 

" In the case of children whose progress is unsatisfactory, 
and who are inattentive, dull, and idle, their capacity for 
hearing should be determined by proper tests, and if de- 
fective hearing is found, information of the fact should be 
sent to the parents, and their position in the class should 
be so arranged as to minimize the bad effect of defective 
hearing." 

Testing ChildreiVs Knowledge of Color. 

Purpose : To discover the children's knowledge of color so that no 
time may be lost in trying to teach that which they know. 

3Iaterial : Color tablets ; colored paper ; colored sticks ; worsteds 
in short lengths ; pieces of cloth ; boxes of water colors. 

Place on each child's desk tablets of each of the six primary colors. 
Pin on the wall where all can see it a square of red paper. 

Ask pupils to find a tablet like it. If a child is wrong let him place 
his selection on the square on the wall. Let him decide whether he 
is right or not. If he thinks he is right do not correct him at present, 
the teacher's purpose in this work being to know what the child sees. 

Repeat this work of investigation with the other five colors respec- 
tively. 

Keep a record of results, noting those who fail to match the six 
colors. 

Ask each to take a red tablet. 

Note those who fail to apply the name to the color. Do corre- 
sponding work with other colors. 

Show a square or an oblong of colored paper, and ask pupils to tell 
its color. Note those who do not know the name of the color. 

Have pupils match colors. 



TALKING LESSONS. 29 

These tests will show the teacher what training her pupils need. 

Give each child a box of color tablets. 

Have pupils separate tablets into groups, placing but one color in a 
group. Have them put into the box the six oblong tablets that do not 
belong to the six colors mentioned. 

Have pupils note the three colors given at top of page on Reading 
Chart VI. 

Find tablets to match these colors. 

By mixing water-color paints, lead children to discover the pro- 
duction of green, orange and violet. 

Have pupils state how each is made. 

Have them match the secondary colors on the chart. 

Give much practice in matching colors found in different objects. 

Continue the work, using the remaining six colors in the color box. 

The Solar Spectrum. — Hang a triangular glass prism in a win- 
dow where it will catch the sunlight. 

Place a triangular prism on a mirror in the sunlight. From day to 
day have pupils note and try to match the colors. 

Let pupils blow soap bubbles and note the colors. 

Note the iridescence of pearl shells and certain kinds of glass, the 
neck of the peacock and that of the dove. 

With the color tablets have pupils make the conventional spectrum 
illustrated on Charts. Do not let the pupil see the conventional 
spectrum from which to copy. 

Each child should discover for himself the arrangement — the color 
relations. 

Children should be led to talk freely of their observations in these 
color lessons. 

Lead them to talk of the rainbow. 

Tell them myths relating to the rainbow, "The Story of Iris," 
"The Indian Story," Longfellow's Hiawatha. 



Training the Child to follow Directions. 

Give each child a square of paper. 

Have the children note the edges and corners. 

Have them place squares on desks, each with an edge parallel with 
the edge of the desk. 

Touch the right edge ; the left edge ; the back edge ; the front edge. 
(AVork for rapidity and promptness.) 



30 now TO TEACH READING. 

Touch an edge ; the children state which edge was touched, as : 
" That is the right edge," etc. 

Observe corners. Tlie pupils state that each square has two left 
corners and two right corners. Lead them to see and to state that 
two of the corners are nearer to them than the other two. Nearer and 
farther are given by the children. 

Touch the nearer right corner, the farther left corner, etc. 

Fold the paper so that the front edge shall lie on or be even with 
the back edge. Crease the paper. Open it. 

Fold so that the left edge shall lie on the right edge. (Do not allow 
pupils to change position of paper.) Crease the paper. Open it. 

Where do the creases cross ? What is made by the creases ? 

Have pupils make same form with sticks. Have pupils represent 
the paper on blackboard. 

Have them tell in correct language what they have done in each 
case. This work should be genuine training. 

Direction and Position. 

Have each child place his right hand on the front edge of his desk ; 
on the nearer right corner ; on the farther left corner ; on the right 
edge ; on the center of the desk, etc. 

Place a table in front of pupils. 

The teacher puts objects on the table, pupils stating each time what 
is done. 

The teacher directs and the pupils place objects, as : Put a ball in 
the nearer left corner. Child states what he has done. 

Much talking should be done in telling where objects are. 

Have the children give positions of objects in the room. 

After mucli practice in doing the work suggested, objects 
may be placed so that many sentences similar to the follow- 
ing may be obtained from the pupils. 

John has the ball which was on the mat. 

Mary has the one which was in the chair. 

I am pointing to a doll near v^^hich is a cushion. 

Alice has the cart which was on Nellie's desk. She gave the box 
which was in it to Nellie. 

A box is on the center of the table. Near the box is a book on 
which is a little red ball. 



TALKING LESSONS. 31 

On the table is a little chair under which is a large top. 

I see the picture of a cat near which is the picture of a doll. 

H. C. Boweii says : " Doing, or rather expressive doing, 
reveals to the teacher the nature of his pupils' knowledge ; 
exhibits to the pupil new connections, and suggests others 
still ; develops skill or effectiveness in doing, as mere exer- 
cise of information seldom does, or does but feebly ; and 
trains the muscles, the nerves, and the organs of sense to be 
willing, obedient, effective servants of the mind." 



PICTUKES, THEIR USE AND PURPOSE IN TRAINING A 
CHILD TO SEE AND TO TALK. 

In describing pictures, and in relating stories suggested 
by pictures, most valuable training may be given if the work 
is done properly. 

The child untrained in seeing is as likely to be attracted 
by the minor points represented as by those more important. 
He is unable to separate the essential from the subordinate. 
He does not see the purpose of the artist in making the 
picture. He does not know that some objects are repre- 
sented merely for the purpose of making one comprehend 
more fully the principal features or for enriching it. This 
he must be trained to see. 

A child who sees a picture or an object properly has all 
the essential parts that make the picture or object in their 
proper relation. If he does not see aright, he is not pre- 
pared to attempt a representation in words to the listener. 

Appropriate pictures should be selected for this work, 
pictures representing experiences of childhood. Those given 
on the Charts will be found very helpful for this purpose. 

The first work should be in training the children to see 
and to tell what the picture represents, that is, the entire 
unit should be considered. 



32 



HOW TO TEACH READING. 



The children shoukl be led to state the subject of the 
picture by a variety of expressions. 

After the purpose of the picture, the subject, is stated, 
the teacher should lead the children so to represent it in 
words that the hearer, though not looking at it, may see it 
also. The children should feel that this is the purpose of 
their efforts. They can not do the work unaided. 

At first a very simple picture, representing but one 
thought, not very complex, should be selected. The chil- 
dren should be led to tell what they see, using all the 
elements of the thought, each in its correct relation and 
forming a part of the whole, in correct language. 

The following plans are suggestive of what may be done. 




"Look at the picture and tell what you see. 

" I see a large dog." 

" What has the dog m his mouth ? " 

" He has a hat in his mouth." 

" What is the dog doing ? " 

" The dog is running." 



After obtaining these simple sentences, ask one of the 
class to tell again what he sees. When he says, " I see a 
dog," give him the word " with " and ask him to proceed. 
He will say, " with a hat in his mouth." Then have the 



TALKING LESSONS. 33 

child give the entire sentence, after which he will give the 
description as follows : — 

' ' I see a dog with a hat in his mouth. He is running. ' ' 
Question to obtain the following : — 



" Here is Ned in a sailboat. The boat is sailing on a pond. Ned 
sits in the boat. He has an oar in one hand. He guides the boat 
with the rudder." 

Then lead the pupils to unite the sentences by giving 
them at the right time the idiom needed for such union, 
as: — 

" Here is Ned in a sailboat, which is sailing on a pond. Ned, who 
is sitting with an oar in one hand, guides the boat with the rudder." 

" I think Ned is having a good time." 

THE NEW BOOK. 

" Here we see Grace looking at a picture book." 
"Grace sits in a small rocking-chair." "She holds a large open 
book in her hands." 

" In front of Grace is a doll carriage." " A doll lies in the carriage." 



34 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

After obtaining the above, have pupils unite the second 
and third sentences, as : — 

" Grace sits in a small rocking-chair, holding a large open book in 
her hands." 

Unite the fourth and fifth sentences : — 

" In front of Grace is a doll carriage in which a doll is lying." 




PLAYING PEDDLER. 

" On one of the charts is the picture of a little boy playing peddler." 
" He carries his goods on a small board which rests on his left arm." 
" On the board are a toy house, a pretty ball, a large doll and a jack- 
in-a-box." 

"The boy is trying to sell his toys to a little girl who is sitting in a 
chair holding a doll on her right arm." " She has a large open book 
in her lap." " I think they are having a good time." 



TALKING LESSONS. 



35 



FRANK AND HIS PONY. 

" Here is Frank with his black Shetland pony, which is saddled and 
bridled." 

" They stand in the road in front of a house around which are many 
trees and a fence." 




"In his left hand Frank holds a riding-whip, while the right one is 
thrust into his jacket pocket." " On his arm rest the bridle reins." 

"The pony seems impatient for his master to mount, for he is paw- 
ing the road with his left forefoot." 



It is as easy to lead the child to say, " I see a dog with a hat in his 
mouth," as it is to lead him to say, " I see a dog, and he has a hat in 
his mouth." 

The English has little idiom that is difficult. This is a boon to the 
child too little appreciated. The forms of the relative pronoun, a few 
prepositions and a conjunction or two properly added to the child's 
powers of expression, will aid much and perceptibly, both in training 
him to talk better and in helping him to see relations of subordina- 



36 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

tion, a valuable acquisition of power. Not to give him power and 
habit in the use of these helps in correct and full expression is to 
make him weak in seeing the relations they symbolize. 



REPRODUCTION OF STORIES. 

The first Avork should be quite simple. Tell (do not 
read) a short, interesting story. Have each pupil tell one 
thing that he remembers. 

Continue this work of telling pupils a short story each 
day, requiring them to tell one or two facts which they 
remember. 

Little by little the child gains strength, so that in time 
he is able to reproduce the whole story in good form. 

Let the story selected for each day be one that helps or 
is connected with some other line of work. Fables, stories, 
myths and fairy tales based on nature study are w^ell 
adapted to this work. 

Whenever possible, have the children illustrate these 
stories by cutting paper, molding in sand or drawing with 
chalk on the blackboard. 

Herbert Spencer says, "Almost invariably children show 
a strong tendency to cut things in paper, to make, to build, 
— a propensity which, if duly encouraged and directed, will 
not only prepare the way for scientific conceptions, but will 
develop those powers of manipulation in which most people 
are very deficient." 



THE STUDY OF NATURE. 

Elementary lessons in plants, animals, chemistry, physics, 
physical geography, and other branches of common know- 
ledge become a necessity to the teacher who understands 
why the children are in school, what a teacher's duty is 
toward his pupils, and how such duty can be discharged 



TALKING LESSONS. 37 

not only most profitably, but also most easily, most econom- 
ically, as well as most intelligently. 

The study of plants and animals in the lower grades of 
school is made delightful and profitable when it is pre- 
scribed as a means of training the learner to see, as a means 
of getting related information for the learning and exercise 
of exact expression, and the correct use of language, and 
for making verbal material that has meaning to the child 
for his first reading lessons. 

The teacher must remember that a knowledge of botany 
and zoology is not the primary purpose in giving plant 
lessons and animal lessons in the lower grades of school; 
that a knowledge of the science of physics or of physiology 
is not contemplated by giving elementary lessons in these 
branches of learning. 

This work can be made most interesting if the child is 
led to see the poetic, artistic and sympathetic side of 
nature. 

The following are suggestive plans and outlines for some 
of the work in the study of nature : — 

Plants. — Begin with the whole plant. Have pupils tell : Where 
the plant grew ; what was necessary to make it grow ; from what it 
came ; who brought it to school. 

Lead pupils to observe the three parts, — root, stem and leaves. 

Have them state where the root is found ; the nature of the stem. 

Lead them to unite and arrange their sentences as follows : — 

"I have a plant which grew in Ned's garden." " It grew from a 
seed." " The rain and the sun helped it to grow." 

" This little plant has roots, a stem, and leaves." 

"There are many little roots which look like threads." "They 
grow in the ground." " The woody stem has pretty green leaves." 

" I am glad Ned brought this plant to school." 

After the work suggested in the foregoing the pupils 
may be led to see and to state the work of each part. 
Have pupils memorize a stanza or a gem related to the 
plant. 



38 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

The study of leaves, if properly taught, is most interest- 
ing as well as profitable work. 

For the first lesson do not specify the kind of leaves to 
be brought, but simply ask pupils to bring leaves. 

Purpose : To find out what leaves the pupils know and to discover 
what they see in leaves. 

Material : Leaves brought by the teacher and children. 

Have pupils sort and group the leaves, placing but one kind in a 
group. 

Have them show and name the kinds they know. 

Have them tell the color of the leaves. 

Have them tell how they distinguish one leaf from another. 

Give each a leaf to draw or paint. 

The children in this work should be led to talk freely so 
that the teacher may discover their knowledge of leaves 
and the language they use to express what they know. 

This lesson will show the children that they do not know 
the names of many of the most common leaves about their 
homes, thus awakening a desire to know them. 

For the next lesson tell the children the kind of leaves to 
bring. 

Describe each of the selected leaves, noting size, color, shape and 
texture (what the child sees). 

Study the parts of the leaf, — the blade and the footstalk. 

Study the apex, margin and base of each. 

Note the venation of leaves studied, and distinguish between the 
framework and the filling. 

Discover what the veins contain and whence the fluid comes. 

Seeds. — Name and recognize from six to a dozen seeds, as : beans, 
rice, corn, wheat, oats and the common flower seeds. 

Plant many seeds of one kind (beans), to furnish specimens for 
class work. 

Plant a few seeds of each of several varieties, to establish the fact 
that each seed contains a living germ. 

Show by experiment that moisture, light and heat are necessary 
conditions for the healthy development of a plant. 



TALKING LESSONS. 39 

Plant seed in cotton that the different stages of germination may 
be observed. 

Study the parts of the seed, — seed coat, seed, leaves and germ. 

Compare the parts of the seed with the corresponding part of the 
growing plant to establish facts of origin. 

Encourage children to plant seeds at home, and to note time needed 
for appearance of plants and their final development. 

Develop and write many descriptions on seeds to be read by the 
children. 

Read or tell stories on seeds from standard authors to be repro- 
duced by the children. 

Buds. — Study the tree first. 

Note when and where on the plant buds first appear. 

Distinguish between side (axillary) buds and end (terminal) buds. 

Observe the scar below each axillary bud and discover what it 
indicates. 

Note the various outer coats of the buds studied, and give their 
uses. 

Note the gummy, sticky covering of some buds, and give its use. 

Note when buds swell and open. 

When the scales separate, note their arrangement. 

Note the different ways in which the leaves are folded within the 
buds. 

Distinguish between leaf buds and flower buds. 

Describe many buds. 

Observe many likenesses and differences between buds studied. 

Draw and paint the buds. 

Tell or read stories about buds. Have pupils reproduce the 
stories. 

Find stories from standard authors for pupils to read and repro- 
duce. 

The proper way for children to study buds is to watch 
them unfold. Buds will develop indoors if the branches 
are kept in water and if the water be changed frequently. 
The development will be hastened by frequently trimming 
the lower ends of the branches with a sharp knife. 

Purpose : To lead the children to observe the formation and growth 
of buds previous to cold weather, as well as the protection provided 
by nature. 



40 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

Plan : Give each child an apple twig to observe. Lead children to 
think the twig is talking, telling them about her baby buds. Have 
children tell just what they see. Then question to obtain sentences 
similar to the following. 

The teacher must remember that the pupils are to talk. 




THE APPLE BRANCH. 

" I am a branch of the old apple tree." 

"I have many baby buds." "There are many baby buds on the 
tree, too." "Each has a little cradle in which it sleeps." "The 
cradle is made of brown scales." " The scales keep the bud dry." 

" Each baby bud is covered with a soft white blanket and a green 
quilt," "Next winter they will not feel the cold." "The soft blanket 
and green quilt will keep them warm." 

"Soon baby buds will be fast asleep." "Mother tree will go to 
sleep, too." " Baby buds and mother tree will sleep all winter." 

At the close of the lesson have pupils memorize the stanza, " Rock- 
a-by-baby," etc. 

Have pupils mold, paint and draw the apple twig. 

The teacher should sketch in the presence of the class an apple 
tree as it appears after the leaves have fallen. 

In early spring place apple twigs in water, and watch the de- 
velopment of the buds. 

Study a twig bearing blossoms. Which come first, leaves or blos- 
soms ? Note the size of the leaves from day to day. Note the size 
of the leaves when the blossoms open. 

Study the blossom. 

Compare with cherry, pear and peach. 

After the children have observed and studied the tree, bud and 
blossoms in the springtime, sketch the tree as it appears in bloom ; 
later, as it appears laden with fruit. 



TALKING LESSONS. 41 

Beside making blackboard sketches, the teacher will 
find it very convenient for her work to have each appear- 
ance of the tree reproduced in a large sketch on cardboard 
for pupils to observe and compare while studying the fruit. 

Have children study buds of other trees in a correspond- 
ing way. 

Flowers. — Specimens for the study of flowers are easily 
obtained during the fall or spring term of the school year. 

In the fall, dandelions, asters and golden rod are com- 
mon plants everywhere. There are many cultivated garden 
flowers which children will bring if asked to do so. 

In the springtime, anemones, spring beauties, violets, 
daisies, cowslips, dandelions and many others may be 
obtained in abundance. 

Children may be so trained to observe that most valuable 
lessons are learned in collecting specimens. 

Whenever possible study the whole plant. 

Tell whether the flower selected grew on tree, bush, or other 
plant. 

Note the size, shape, fragrance and color. 

Discover the two cups of the flower. 

Note whether the two cups consist of one part or two parts, 
respectively. 

Lead the children to notice the threadlike parts in the center of 
the flower. 

Describe, draw and paint the flower studied. 

Make and write many stories on flowers to be read by children. 

Tell or read stories from standard authors to be reproduced orally. 

If there is a myth or a fable relating to the flowers studied, tell the 
story to the pupils. Have children reproduce the story and then 
illustrate it on the blackboard. 

"The Dandelion," Longfellow's Hiawatha; "The Sunflower," 
— a myth ; " Shower and Flower," " Calling the Violet," Lucy Lar- 
com; "Buttercups and Daisies," Mary Howitt ; "The Daisy," 
Nature in Verse; "Little Dandelion," Whittier's Child Life; song, 
" The Little Flower came from the Ground "; song, "The Dandelion." 

Have pupils memorize the poem, "How Flowers Grow," page 49, 
Alternate Second Eeader. 



42 HOW TO TEACH READING. 



Outline for the Study of Autumn Foliage. 

Autumn leaves. 

(1) Beauty of the leaves. 

(a) Color. Why do the leaves change color ? 
r (b) Use. 

(2) The fallen leaves. 

(a) Cause of leaves falling ? 
(i) Their work is done, (ii) The tree cannot care for them 
longer, (iii) Buds need their places. 
(&) Use. 

(i) To protect seeds and buds, (ii) To protect the eggs and 
larvae of insects and other small animals, (iii) To fur- 
nish by their decay food for the living plants. 

Before having pupils observe autumn leaves, talk with 
them of the work the leaves have done during the sum- 
mer. The use they have been to the trees, to man and to 
animals. By questioning, draw from the children every- 
thing that they can be led to observe or find out for them- 
selves, but do not force the work upon them nor try to do 
work which they cannot comprehend. 

Before the foliage begins to change, select trees for pupils 
to observe. Guide them in their observations. Have them 
tell what they observe. Use the sentences given by pupils 
for the reading lesson. 

Write the sentence as soon as given. 

Have pupils read (silently) as the sentence is being written. 

Have the sentence read. 

Have pupils write words on blackboard. 

Have pupils write sentences on blackboard. 

Have leaves and twigs drawn. 

Have leaves and twigs painted. 

The following questions are given as suggestions for 
guiding pupils in their work : — 

In what parts of the tree do the leaves begin to color (upper or l«wer 
part — outside or toward the middle) ? 

In what part of the tree are the brightest colored leaves ? 



TALKING LESSONS. 43 

Where do the leaves begin to change color — at the top or lower 
part — around the edge or near the veins ? 
What colors are found ? 
Which are the prettiest colors ? 

Have pupils matcli colors in leaves. Have them matcli 
the colors in leaves with colored paper. 
Have them paint, using water colors. 

Where does the leaf break away from the stem ? 

How does it break away ? 

What makes it drop from the stem ? What is in its place ? 

Lead children to see and to think of the work which the 
leaves have done. There is nothing more for them to do in 
staying on the tree. Lead them to see that the tree, too, is 
tired and needs rest. It cannot work for the leaves. The 
leaves must now give their places to the baby buds. 

In what part of the tree do the leaves begin to drop ? 
Does the tree want her leaves to go ? Why ? 

Lead children to think of the cold winter — the winds 
and the snow. That the tree is better off without leaves. 

Would the leaves be a help to the buds ? Have the leaves any more 
work to do ? What ? 

Lead children to observe and think of the plants and 
seeds that need protection on the ground and in the ground. 

Bring into the schoolroom leaves of the previous autumn 
showing different stages of disintegration. Lead them to 
observe and think of the agencies which aid in the decay of 
leaves, — moisture, wind, heat, earthworms and other small 
animals. If children are strong enough, that is, if they have 
had other work to understand it, the teacher may give as 
information — the fallen leaves protect the eggs and larvae 
of insects and other small animals. 

Decorate the schoolroom with the leaves and branches 
collected by the pupils. 



44 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

With children's help press leaves and arrange them on 
large sheets of cardboard to aid in reviews later in the 
school year. 

Tell them the stOry of ^' The Anxious Leaf." 

Have them memorize one of the following poems: "October," 
"October's Bright Blue Weather," "Down to Sleep," Helen Hunt 
Jackson ; ' ' Come Little Leaves, ' ' George Cooper ; ' ' When the Woods 
turn Brown," Lucy Larcom ; "October's Party"; song, "Come 
Little Leaves," "The Stolen Leaves" ; game, "The Falling Leaves." 

The following should be read by the teacher: Lowell's "Indian 
Summer Reverie," Bryant's " Gladness of Nature," Bryant's "Autumn 
Woods," Longfellow's "Autumn," Thoreau's "Autumnal Tints," in 
IJxcursions. 

See outlines and plans, pages 58-60. 

Animals. — See outlines and plans, pages 52, 70, 75, 76. 

Insects. — Insects form most excellent subjects for many of the 
early conversational lessons. 

Confine insects in a box or cage covered with netting, making the 
new home as nearly like the old as possible. (They should be liberated 
after use.) 

Interest the children in searching for the homes of insects ; in 
watching the method used in obtaining food ; in noting what becomes 
of them in winter. 

Make collections of larvse of various insects. Feed with the leaves 
of the same kind of tree or bush from which they were obtained. 

The spinning of the cocoon, and the perfect insect which later 
emerges from it, should be noted by the child. 

The butterfly, moth, cricket, grasshopper, bee, fly, dragonfly, are 



Tell the children the following stories in connection with the study. 
Have children reproduce the stories told. 

"Aurora and Tithonus," myth ; "The Ant and the Grasshopper," 
fable; "The Wise King and the Bee"; "King Solomon and the 
Ants," Whittier. 

Poems: "Gaining Wings," Edna Dean Proctor; "Bee Song," 
Kate Douglas Wiggin. 



TALKING LESSONS. 45 

The children should do the talking, the sentences being 
their own, given in response to questions from the teacher. 
The following suggests one kind of work : — 

THE WINTER CRADLE. 

Grace brought a large green caterpillar to school. 

She put it with green leaves into a box over which she put a net. 

One day we saw the caterpillar at work. It was not eating. What 
was it doing ? We watched it to find out. 

It was spinning — spinning its winter cradle. Now it is fast asleep ; 
or, 

The large green caterpillar which Grace brought to school has spun 
its winter cradle and gone to sleep. 

Vapor. — See outlines, pages 84-87. 



THE USE OF PHONICS. 

There is a limit to the number of words which the chil- 
dren can learn to recognize at sight. They must therefore 
have other means of determining the words they meet. 
They must associate the sound with the form, and be able 
to recognize a new form through its likeness to those which 
they already know. Phonic drill or work in slow pronunci- 
ation should be begun the first day of school. This is one 
of the tests which the teacher may use in ascertaining the 
children's ability to hear sounds in words. 

At first the teacher, in telling the children to do some- 
thing, gives a slow pronunciation to one word in the 
sentence ; as, Find a h-a-t. Bring me a b-oo-k. Get your 
s-l-a-t. Touch your f-a-c. F-i-n-d a doll. Sh-u-t the door. 

From five to ten minutes each day should be given to the 
work in slow pronunciation, and should be continued until 
the children are able to detect words given by the teacher, 
if the words are in their vocabulary. Encourage the chil- 
dren to do the work in slow pronunciation. 



46 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

The ear should be trained to know the sounds or values 
of the consonants of the language. 

As soon as the children know by sight a few words 
beginning with the same letters, — as ball, bell, black, blue, 
boy, — they may be asked to pronounce the words and then 
give the first sound they hear in each word. Great care 
should be taken to have the sound given correctly. Tell 
them that h always has that sound and that the sound is 
made with the lips closed. There should be no sound of 
that letter after the lips open. In a corresponding way 
each sound of the consonants may be learned, and learned 
so thoroughly that the children detect the sound of the 
letter in whatever part of the word it is given. 

With the acquired ability to give the correct sounds of 
the consonants and those combinations whose values are 
constant pupils will be able to pronounce any word which 
occurs in their reading if the word is a part of their vo- 
cabulary. 

To aid in this work of phonic drill, several pages of the 
Charts and the First Eeader have been devoted to the work 
in word-building. In this the children are given an oppor- 
tunity to study and to compare words. 

Time for the work in phonics and word-building should 
not be taken from or given at the recitation time for reading. 
A special time in the program should be given for this work, 
which the children should think of as word study but not 
as reading. The teacher cannot emphasize too strongly that 
the purpose of reading is thought-getting and thought-giv- 
ing. Do not let the children help themselves in getting new 
work by their knowledge of phonics too early in their course 
of learning to read. This can wait, yet it is most desirable 
to train their ears and their organs of speech to respond to 
the sound. 



WHAT SHOULD THE BEGINNER READ? 

The vocabulary which the chikl has acquired during the 
years preceding his school life, and the vocabulary which 
may be acquired in a course of systematic talking lessons, 
must be the verbal material of his early reading lessons. 
These words are his ready instruments, which he uses Avhen 
he desires to make others understand him. They are the 
symbols of things which he knows and loves and with 
which he plays; symbols of his desires; symbols of his 
emotions and of his will. The words which he learns be- 
fore using a book and those learned in connection with the 
first book should form a community, a symmetrical vocabu- 
lary in which the different parts of speech are found in pro- 
portion to their use in ordinary speech. This vocabulary 
should consist of the words and idioms which he uses or 
may be trained to use in the study of plants, animals, 
minerals, rain, snow, frost and wind ; in conversation about 
children's toys and other objects ; in descriptions of familiar 
objects and simple pictures ; in narrations suggested by pic- 
tures; in comparing and in contrasting simple objects; in 
reproducing myth, fable and folk-lore, and stories of child 
life. 

The child's first efforts in learning to read must be a 
recognition of the words and the sentences representing his 
knowledge gained through doing, feeling, thinking, compar- 
ing, concluding and imaging. To ask a child to read 
groups of words (sentences) representing thoughts not his 
own, before he has had much practice in reading his own 
composition, is to reverse the natural order of learning ; it 
is beginning with the complex, with the abstract. This 

47 



48 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

appHes whether the object of the reading be the getting of 
thought or the oral expression of thought. 

In each subject enumerated above, most interesting as 
well as instructive lessons can be made by the children 
under the guidance of the teacher. 

FIRST STEPS IN READING. 

While talking the child does not think of the words 
which he uses as such, but thinks of them as a means of 
expressing the ideas which he wishes to make known. He 
learns words for no other purpose. As he has learned to 
talk, so he should learn to read. Subjects should be selected 
in which he may be interested, yet these should be on edu- 
cative topics. For the first reading lessons something fresh 
and attractive should be taken. Nature furnishes most 
appropriate subjects in abundance. The time of year and 
the environments of children will determine what should be 
selected. 

Whatever the subject chosen may be, let the children 
assist in obtaining the specimens to create an interest in the 
work at the outset. 

The following plan is suggestive of one kind of lesson 
which may be given in October, through the month of 
September the children having done much in the study of 
plant life suggested in preparatory work. 

PLAN. 

Purpose : To lead children to observe the formation and 
growth of buds previous to cold weather, as well as the 
protection provided by nature, and to give definite, accurate 
knowledge to be represented in words. 

Matter : Sentences given by pupils representing what they 
know and have said. 

Material: Apple twigs. (Other twigs, as: elm, maple, 
lilac, cherry, willow, etc.) 



FIRST STEPS IN READING. 49 

After placing twigs where all can see tliem the teacher 
introduces the lesson by repeating the stanza — 

" Rock-a-by-baby 
On the tree toi3," etc. 

sketching as she does so a leafless tree and twigs showing 
buds. The children talk freely, telling what the cradles 
are and finding them on different twigs. 

Ask the children to tell what they see. Each child watches 
as the sentence is written on the board in good, plain, verti- 
cal script. 

" What did the chalk say ? " 
" I see a twig." 

(The sentence should be written three or four times. ) ' ' You may 
write, ' I see a twig.' " 

Each child tries to write the sentence, or at least one word 
of the sentence. The teacher's work should be erased before 
the children write. They are to write from memory. The 
first attempts to write will be very crude, but if each child 
tries, does his best, it is sufficient. The work should be 
judged by the effort made, not by results. 

If a child fails, have him watch as the word or sentence 
is written again on the board, then have him try once more 
to write it from memory. 

Then the sentence, " I see buds on the twig," may be 
obtained from the pupils and written for them to read. 
Write the word bicds three or four times. Erase. Have 
pupils write the word from memory. 

For seat work the pupils may paint the twig, using water 
colors, represent the twig with pencil or charcoal on paper, 
or cut the object from paper. This part of the work is all- 
important. 

Each child should be supplied with an envelope contain- 
ing the script words found in the sentences written for the 
pupils to read. With these words the children should 



50 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

reproduce the sentences, placing them below the paintings 
or drawings which they have made. Have pupils read the 
sentences that they make. 

Begin the second lesson by writing the sentence, " I see a 
twig." Ask the children to make true what has been 
written. 

The children take twigs, showing that they have read the 
sentence and understand it. 

Lead them to tell the name of the twig, as, " It is an 
apple twig; it grew on an apple tree." Write the sen- 
tences, and have pupils read them. Write the word apple. 
Erase, and have pupils Avrite from memory. Then have 
them write the sentence. If they hesitate in writing the 
word, assist them by again writing it, giving time for a 
concept to be formed before erasing the word. Then have 
them write the word grew. Question to obtain : " The buds 
are small " ; " They are baby buds." Write the sentences. 
Have pupils read them. Have them write the words sinall 
and haby from memory. 

Add the new words to those in the envelope, and send 
pupils to their seats to paint or draw the twig and repro- 
duce as many sentences as they can. Examine the chil- 
dren's work, having them read the sentences they have 
made. 

Write the following for pupils to read : — 

I see a twig. It grew on an apple tree. 
I see baby buds on it. 

Have each sentence read as soon as written. If pupils 
hesitate in reading, write the word and have the children 
write from memory ; then read the sentence. 

Have pupils read the first and second sentences after all 
have been written and read. Then have them unite the 
two, using which in place of ''/i^." Write the sentence : " I 
see a twig which grew on an apple tree." Have pupils 



FIRST STEPS IN READING. 51 

read. Write the word ivhich, and then have pupils write 
the word from memory. 

Erase, and send pupils to the blackboard to reproduce 
the work. Watch the writing of the class. If a mistake 
is made, erase the word without calling the child's atten- 
tion to the wrong form. The child should then correct his 
own mistake, after examining the word rewritten by the 
teacher. 

In the succeeding lesson, lead children to see the protec- 
tion nature provides for the bud to shelter it during storms 
and cold weather. (In connection with this, buds of other 
twigs may be examined.) 

See page 39. 

The children Avill give many sentences which should not 
be written at this stage of their progress in reading. If 
the teacher is judicious in the selection of sentences, the 
repetition of words will be such that the pupils will learn 
the words easily and thoroughly, beside having reading 
matter that is fresh and interesting to them. 

In connection with this work many verbs, as well as the 
names of the pupils in the class, may be taught, as : " The 
chalk says, ' Alice, find an apple twig.' " 

Alice finds the twig, and the children write the word Jind 
from memory. In the same way the words show, take, get, 
put, let, give, break, make, etc., may be taught. 

By proper questioning, the following idioms may be used 
in sentences by the children: Here is, here are, there is, 
there are, this is, that is, I have, who, that, which, on which, 
in which, etc. 

Thus in the study of twigs a variety of reading lessons 
may be made, each a unit having a sequential arrangement. 

The words and sentences to be learned by sight are but 
the symbols of what the child has said. He learns them as 
such, not as isolated words. He thus learns to read readily 
and with little effort. 



52 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

Fruit may be studied in a corresponding way. See 
pages 59 and 60. 

Whatever the subject taken, cause the children first, to 
know it; second, to say it; third, to see the sentence or 
word; fourth, to write it, make it with their Imnds-, fifth, 
to read it. 

Suggestive Work for Advanced Blackboard Lessons. 

Purpose: To note the departure of birds as the cold season 
approaches. 

THE ROBIN. 

" Have the robins gone that had a nest in our tree ? " 

"In the nest we saw the bhie-green eggs from which baby robins 
came." "We heard the baby robins chirp in the nest." "We 
heard them sing in the tree ; then we saw them fly to the ground 
and run. ' ' 

"The nest is in the tree, but no robins are there." " Why have 
they gone away ? " 

"Do you know what robins eat?" "They have gone to find 
worms and insects." " They have gone south, where it is warm." 

"The bhiebird has gone, too." 

" Do all birds go south ? " 

MY KITTY. 

" I have a kitty that I call Tabby." 

" Tabby has a warm fur coat, which is soft and gray." 

"She has a round head and a long body." "She has four soft 
paws." 

"Do you know how many cushions there are on each paw ? " 

" I do, I have counted them." 

"Tabby has sharp claws, which she uses to catch mice." "She 
uses them when she is angry, too." "You cannot see them now." 
"Why?" 

"Oh, they are in the cushions." "That is where she keeps her 
claws when she does not use them." 

" What does Tabby like to eat ?" 

"Mice. Yes, she likes mice." "How does she catch mice?" 
"If a mouse is near, Tabby smells it." "Then she moves slyly to 
it," "She moves so quietly the mouse does not hear her." "As 



FIRST STEPS IN HEADING. 53 

soon as she is near the mouse, she pounces upon it." "Then her 
sharp claws help her," 

" My kitty has sharp teeth, too." 

Simple tableaux arranged in the presence of the class, so 
that the arrangement may be seen as it takes place, may be 
made the subject of interesting reading lessons, as : — 

"Cora sits in a little red chair, with her large doll in her lap." 
" I think Cora has a pretty doll." 

After the arrangement has been made, a few questions 
will bring from the children a good description of the 
tableau. 

Each sentence should be read as soon as written. After 
the entire group has been written and read, the teacher may 
give drill on words, as follows : — 

"Find the word that tells what Cora does or is doing ; the one that 
tells where she is ; the one that shows the size of the chair ; its color." 

Erase words. Have pupils tell what was erased. 

Erase all work. Write one of the new words. Erase, and have 
pupils write the same on the blackboard. 

The children should be trained to write the new word 
when it is added to their reading vocabulary. By this 
means they learn to see new words accurately while they 
are interested in the object, picture, description or story. 

If this work is done carefully, they will write their 
vocabulary in a short time as easily as they recognize it 
by sight. 

Tor seat work, make such an arrangement of objects as 
will require the use of most of the words contained in this 
lesson. 

The children should be expected to write from memory 
from the first. The sentences are suggested by the condi- 
tions in which the teacher places the objects. This will be 
really original composition. 

This work may be followed by arranging other tableaux 



54 



HOW TO TEACH READING. 



and by having descriptions of simple pictures corresponding 
to the work given in preparatory lessons, pages 32-35. 

Thus under the guidance of the teacher the little ones 
make their own reading lessons. With specimen in hand, 
each is ready to state some fact discovered. While the 
mind is alert and the mental picture vivid, the written 
expression is associated with it. 

With what eagerness the child watches as the crayon is 
made to represent what has been said by each. Listen as 
each sentence is read in the same clear tone that was used 



in talking ! 



Why is this natural expression given? Because the 
child carries to the text a knowledge of expression gained 
from the oral exercise, and begins to learn the subtler offices 
of symbols when he applies this knowledge in reading the 
same. 

In the experience of the learner of six years, thought has 
always controlled expression ; he has not used words with- 
out a purpose. He should be trained to feel that written 
language has a purjDose, and should be taught to read for 
the purpose of getting the ideas expressed, not merely to 
call words. 




REGULAR SERIES — CHARTS AND PRIMER. 

SUMMARY OF WORK IN FIRST STEPS. 

If the work suggested in " First Steps " be taught well, 
and continued for six weeks or two months, the average 
child will know at sight two hundred or more words. He 
will know them thoroughly, too, for he will have had much 
practice in reading and in writing sentences, or entire groups 
of sentences having natural relation or sequential order, in 
which these words will have been used again and again. 
He will have become familiar with, and will recognize 
readily, the idioms, "Here is," "Here are," "There is," 
"There are," "Where is," "Where are," as well as many 
other phrases, which he will have been trained to use 
correctly by using them for the exact expression of what 
he was first made to see and to know. He will be able to 
read sentences as involved as those which he uses when 
talking. 

FROM SCRIPT TO PRINT. 

The child thus trained is prepared to read with ease the 
matter found on the Charts and in the Primer of " The 
Normal Course in Reading." The purpose of this reading 
is to cause him to recognize at sight the printed symbols of 
his vocabulary. 

By the use of the Charts and the Primer the children are 
given a great variety of easy reading matter in which a 
small vocabulary is used. Each word appears in various 
places and in different relations. This repetition of words 
in different relations is the kind of supplementary reading 



5Q HOW TO TEACH READING. 

matter which belongs to the beginners' grade. If the 
children use the new word in oral, written and printed 
statements in various connections, find it among others, 
illustrate it whenever possible by drawing, the word be- 
comes their own. Such repetition or drill fixes the word 
in their minds. 

A lesson on the Charts is read ; then, in many instances, 
one supplementing it may be found in the Primer, or vice 
versa. Each lesson is a unit, thus giving the children much 
practice in reading an entire group of short, easy sentences 
arranged sequentially. Many of the lessons on the Charts 
and in the Primer may be supplemented by lessons found 
in the Alternate First Eeader. 

In connection wdth this work the children should have 
much practice, also, in reading their own compositions 
which they are led to write. See lessons suggested in pre- 
paratory work, pages 32-45. 

Let the teacher remember that if education should ever 
proceed from the known it is in learning to read. The 
known in the early stages of learning to read is the 
thoughts expressed by what is to be read and the spoken 
language expressing them ; the unknown is the written and 
printed symbols, words, signs, sentences. In all this open- 
ing work the teacher must be sure that there is a well-estab- 
lished known from which to lead. 

The children must be given experiences represented by 
the Avords they are to learn, or experiences similar to them. 

It is not the purpose of this early work in reading to 
train the learner to get thought from the printed page. 
He learns, however, that this reveals thought, because it 
has so often expressed his own thought. He thus early 
learns to look for and to expect thought when he reads. 

He does not now learn expression froin the printed page. 
He carries a knowledge of expression obtained from the 
oral exercise to the text and begins to learn the more 
subtle offices of symbols when he applies this knowledge 



REGULAR SERIES — CHARTS AND PRIMER. 57 

in reading. In this way he realizes that reading is talking. 
The child thus taught will best learn the office of printed 
symbols. 

The transition from script to print should be made so 
carefully that the children do not feel that there is a 
change in their work. 

All words that occur in the text on the Charts and in 
the Primer (except those found in the word-building lists) 
are given in script at the beginning of each lesson. 

When the class is ready to make the change from script 
to print, write one of the script sentences on the black- 
board. Have the sentence read. Ask the children to find 
sentences like it on the Chart or in the Primer (whichever 
the teacher has for use). 

They readily see the resemblances in script and print, 
and find the sentence in both forms. Give drill in finding 
corresponding words in both sentences. 

Have them read a script sentence found on the Charts or 
in the Primer, and then find the same sentence in print. 

Continue this drill until pupils read print as readily as 
script. 

For part of their seat work, to follow the reading lesson 
at this stage of the pupils' progress, they should be pro- 
vided with a box of letter cards. 

Write a short sentence on the blackboard. (A careful 
selection, in which there is a close resemblance in the two 
forms, should be made at first.) 

Ask pupils to make the same sentence, using the letter 
cards. (Do not print on the blackboard for them. Make 
independent workers of children, not imitators.) 

Carefully examine each child's work. If a wrong letter 
is used in a word, do not call the child's attention to the 
mistake, but remove the letter or letters, and ask him to 
try again. In a short time he will make words and sen- 
tences quite rapidly, using letter cards. 

Several of the early pages of the Charts and the Primer 



58 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

are so simple that the chiklren will read them with little or 
no assistance. 

The teacher shonld know whether they can read the 
matter or not before asking them to read it alond. 

Preparatory Work suggested for Chart XXV. 

After children have observed a shell and read the sentences which 
they have given in connection with the study, the teacher may write 
a lesson similar to the following for them to read, after which the 
pupils may read the lesson on the Chart : — 

THE SHELL. 

Look at the large shell which I have in my hand. 

Is it not a pretty shell ? I think it is. 

Alice brought this shell for us to see. She found it on the sea- 
shore. How did it get there ? 

The outside of the shell is rough and gray. 

The inside, which is as smooth as glass, is of many beautiful colors. 
Do you see the beautiful rainbow colors in it ? 

This shell was the home of a small animal. Do you know its 
name ? 

Tell children stories of the Crustacea. 

Preparatory Work suggested for Chart XLI. 

If possible have the children observe an oak tree. Talk with 
them of its size, its rough bark, its strength, its durability, its slow 
growth, its shade and its beauty. Have them gather branches of oak 
trees. Have specimens of oak wood. 

Give each child an oak twig. Have the twigs broken and cut by 
pupils. Have them state what they discover. 

Show specimens of oak wood. 

Have the children try to cut and scratch the wood. Thus lead them 
to discover that oak wood is hard. (Compare with pine.) 

Find furniture (if any) in the room made of oak. 

Have pupils give uses of oak wood. 

Write and have pupils read the sentences which they give. Have 
them write all new words. Have them paint or draw an oak twig. 

Have many leaves of different kinds of oak trees. 



REGULAR SERIES — CHARTS AND PRIMER. 59 

First have the children observe one kind of oak leaves and tell 
V7hat they see. (Size, shape, texture, color.) 
Note the margin of the leaf. Note the venation. 




Discover what the veins contain and v^hence this juice comes ; its 
use to the leaves. 

Write and have pupils read the sentences vi^hich they give. 
Have pupils write the new words. 

Have them compare oak leaves and note likenesses and differences. 
Have them mold, draw and paint oak leaves and twigs. 

Outline for the Study of the Acorn. 

1. What it is and where it grows. 

2. Color. 

3. Size and shape. 

4. Parts. 

(a) Cup, — shape, texture, use. 
(6) Nut, — shape, texture, use. 

(i) Parts. Shell. Kernel, — what it contains. 



60 HOW TO TEACH BEADING, 

Have many acorns for pupils to examine. (If possible have a few 
that are sprouting. ) 

Write sentences given by the pupils. Have them write new words. 

Have them mold, paint and draw the fruit. 

Tell the children one or more of the following stories (myths) : — 

"Baucis and Philemon" ; " Rhcecus," Lowell's poem ; "The Vine 
and the Oak," Emerson's Indian Myths. 

Have the children reproduce the story told. Use the reproductions 
for reading lessons. Do corresponding work with the maple. 

Have the children read the lessons on Charts XXXVIII-XLII. 

These lessons may be supplemented by the lessons on leaves in 
Alternate First Reader. 



Outline for the Study of the Apple. 

1. What it is and where it grows. 

2. Covering, — color. 

3. Size and shape. 

4. Dimples. 

(a) Stem. 
(6) Eye. 

5. Parts. 

(a) Skin, — color, texture, use. 

(6) Pulp, — color, cells, juice, use. 

(c) Core, — number of cells, use. 

(d) Seeds, — color, shape, parts, use. 

6. Uses. 

At tlie beginning of the school year or term, select trees 
for the children to observe. If possible, an apple tree should 
be one of the number selected. 

Lead the children to tell what they know about the apple 
tree. Can they tell apple trees from other trees ; how ? 
Have they visited orchards ? Have they helped to gather 
apples ? Have they seen apple trees in blossom ? Do they 
know the color and fragrance of apple blossoms ; the 
color and shape of the apple leaf; to what color the 
leaf changes ? 

Write many of the sentences which the children give; 
have these sentences read. 



REGULAR SERIES — CHARTS AND PRIMER. 



61 



Study the apple as outlined. 

The pupils should be supplied with apples, otherwise the 
work should not be attempted. 

Write sentences given by the pupils. Have the sentences 
read. Have pupils write all new words. 

After this preparatory work the pupils will read easily 
the lessons on the apple given in the Primer. These 
lessons may be supplemented by the lessons given in the 
Alternate First Keader, pages 66-68. 

Tell the children the story of "The Three Golden Apples," 
Hawthorne; "Wild Apples," Thoreau ; "The Apple," Burroughs; 
"Planting of the Apple Tree," Bryant; "The Conceited Apple 
Branch," Andersen. 

In a similar way study other fruits. 

Compare the fruits studied. 

Develop and write many descriptions and comparisons of 
fruits, to be read by the children. This will furnish them 
with much supplementary reading matter. 




REGULAR SERIES — FIRST READER. 

An examination of the text given in this book shows that 
the work is based on thought expression. The vocabu- 
lary introduced in easy yet progressive lessons consists of 
the words and idioms which the children use or may be 
trained to use in conversations about pictures, children's 
toys, plants, animals, rain, snow, frost and wind ; in descrip- 
tion of familiar objects and of simple pictures ; in compar- 
ing and in contrasting simple objects ; in reproducing 
myths and fables and in making stories of child life. 

Involved sentences have been used freely in the text, 
instead of short simple sentences. 

The simple sentence does not represent intelligent child 
thought, for as soon as the child begins to see properly, his 
constant effort is to express associate thought. The idiom 
used in involved sentences should constitute a part of the 
child's vocabulary or his available material for thought 
expression ; while he is learning to read, this portion of it 
must be given as carefully as any other. 

Thus it will be seen that by training the child to see, to 
think and to express thought, through direct contact with 
thought material while learning to read, he becomes master 
of a vocabulary which forms a solid foundation for all suc- 
cessive work in reading. 

Very careful attention has been given to the rej^etition of 
words in different relations. 

Every primary teacher sees the necessity of much repeti- 
tion of words in sentences before impressions can be made 
upon the mind of the average child. In many instances 

62 



REGULAR SERIES -FIRST READER. 63 

the same words must be seen again and again before they 
are recognized at a glance. 

The subjects ]3resented in this book afford excellent oppor- 
tunity for much repetition of words in sentences or units of 
work which the children are led to make in their study of 
things preparatory to reading the text, at the same time 
making it possible to furnish additional reading matter on 
the same subject. 

Through direct contact with thought material, they are 
gaining knowledge ; knowledge that is actual, for children 
are taught not ivhat to think but to think, and to exercise 
their powers of observation and to draw conclusions from 
their own experience. 

There is no good reason why the children should not gain 
much valuable information during the three or four years 
they are learning to read. They should not learn to read 
first. They should get the knowledge, and while getting it 
should learn to read the words that represent it. 

Children who are trained, by the study of things, to see 
forms, to compare forms for the purpose of discovering like- 
nesses and differences, are better prepared to see words and 
sentences, forms of words, their likenesses and differences, 
than if they were undisciplined in this direction. 

The child who is trained to see facts in their true rela- 
tions, and to express in clear, concise English the facts 
which he sees, will be better prepared to see and to read 
groups of words rex^resenting these relations. By this 
means he gains power to see thought in groups of familiar 
words ; he discovers that the script on the blackboard and 
the printed page reveal his exact thought ; he acquires the 
habit of looking for the thought contained in each sentence. 

To him reading is thinking, as it should be. He reads 
for the purpose of getting thought and giving thought. His 
training should make him unwilling to read a sentence 
aloud before the thought is mastered, or to leave the 
printed page before the meaning of the author is compre- 



64 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

bended. Eightly guided, the child early acquires the habit 
of looking for the meaning and the uses of words. 

What is the result if this training in seeing and in using 
language for a purpose is neglected ? Watch the child as 
be tries to express what he does not comprehend. Words 
are pronounced, it is true, but no reading is done; no 
thought is evolved, no mental pictures are formed, no true 
enjoyment is derived thereby. 

Arouse the child's interest in the subject, and make him 
feel that observation and reading are the means of obtain- 
ing the knowledge which he desires, and learning to read 
will be his ambition. The boy who reads for his own 
pleasure learns to read, and will ever be a learner. 

The child has a thirst for knowledge, which must be en- 
couraged from the beginning. If this desire is not grati- 
fied in childhood, it is not likely to be a moving force in 
mature years. " The iron must be Avelded while it is hot, 
the clay molded while yet plastic, else the clay grows 
brittle, the iron hardens, and the desired results can never 
be attained." If a dislike for study is acquired in early 
years, it is difficult to overcome this dislike in later years. 

In the work of learning to read there should be genuine 
study in the preparation of the reading lesson, — not by the 
pupils reading and re-reading the text which they are to 
read at class time, but such study as will cause them to 
use the words and the idioms which are new to them ; not 
by copying their reading lessons, but by reproducing the 
thoughts gained by observation or investigation of the sub- 
ject about which the lesson treats. In their oral and writ- 
ten work they should use sentences (not those found in the 
text) as much involved as those in the text which they will 
be asked to read. 

By such preparation the reading of the text is made easy, 
interesting and profitable. Such work is possible in nature 
study. 

The more knowledge the children have of the subject 



REGULAR SERIES — FIRST READER. 65 

about whicli they read, the more easily will they read the 
text; the more accurate their knowledge, the more intelli- 
gently will they read ; the better their understanding of the 
subject, the more profitable will be their reading. 

The reading of a story, a description, a poem, depends 
upon one's power to see, to feel, to reproduce and to image. 
It is the condition of the mind that determines how much 
the subject shall mean to one. 

Is it not evident that the reading lessons should be on 
the subjects which the pupils are studying? 

As a help in retaining and giving good natural expression 
in reading, many pages have been given under the head of 
silent reading. To show that they read silently the chil- 
dren should perform the action described in the lesson, and 
then read the sentence aloud. 

It is all-important that accuracy in expression should be 
cultivated from the very beginning of the work. 

The pictures are excellent for work in description and 
narration. Many of them represent the plays and experi- 
ences of childhood. 

By reading the descriptions and narrations which they 
are led to make the children not only learn the new words 
in the lesson in the book, but many others. Thus taught 
they are prepared to read the book lesson easily and well. 

The following plans are suggestive of what may be 
done : — 

THE BOY AND THE GOAT. 

Lead the pupils to tell what they see in the picture on page 10. 

It is as easy to lead the children to say " I see a boy who is driving 
a goat," as it is to lead them to say, " I see a boy and he is driving a 
goat." 



66 



HOW TO TEACH READING. 




ETHEL AND THE KITTENS. 

" I see Etliel playing with her kittens." " She has two kittens." 
" One is white, the other is black." 

"Ethel sits in a little chair with the black kitten in her lap." 
" The white kitten is on the floor near her chair." 

" Ethel has a string in her right hand which the white kitty is try- 
ing to catch." " When Ethel moves the string kitty tries to catch it." 



Obtain the subject of the picture from the pupils, and 
write it on the board. 

Have i)upils tell what they see. Write one of the sen- 
tences given. Have pupils read it. Erase. Write the new 
words. Erase, and have pupils write the words from mem- 
ory. AVrite the sentence again and have pupils read it. 
Continue the work by having the children (a) see, (b) say, 
(c) write, (d) read. 

After the whole description is written have it read as a 
unit. 

Erase, and send pupils to the board to write the description. 

In a following lesson the children may be led to tell the 
story suggested by the picture. 

Read the book lesson. 



REGULAR SERIES — FIRST READER. 



67 



Thus the children's language lessons and reading lessons 
are on the same subject. 







■^■"^ 



<.««.i^' 



^J.^ 



RALPH AND HIS DOG. 

*' Ralph has a large dog whose name is Hero." 
"One day Ralph and Hero had their pictures taken," "Tell me 
how they looked." 




"Here is the picture of a hen running from her nest in the hay- 
loft." " Back of the hen is the nest, in which are two eggs." " Ray, 
who heard the hen cackle, is at the top of a ladder which rests against 
the hayloft." 

" Do you think the hen likes to have Ray find her nest ? " 

THE STORY. 

"Ray is a little boy who lives on a farm," " He takes care of the 
hens, and hunts for their nests, which they hide in the hay in the barn." 



68 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

"One day, hearing a hen cackle, he ran to the barn." "He 
quickly climbed a ladder to the hayloft, getting there just in time 
to see the hen running from her nest." 

" Ray was glad to find the new nest with two eggs in it." 

Before having pupils pronounce the words given in the 
lists on page 22 have them do corresponding work in pre- 
paring lists. Say to the children, "AVrite all the words 
that you know or can find containing the letter h; then 
write words in which 7?i is used," etc. Watch the work of 
pupils. If mistakes are made in spelling erase the word 
without calling the child's attention to the misspelled word ; 
then have him rewrite. It is the correct form which the 
teacher should impress on the child's mind. Have pupils 
pronounce the words which they write. Have them pro- 
nounce the words on page 22 in good natural tones. This is 
all-important. 

Then have them do the work in word-building as given 
on page 23. Have them pronounce these words. This 
should not take the time of the reading recitation, but 
should be known as word-study; a place in the program 
should be given it. 

Do corresponding work with pages 35 and 48. 

Correct pronunciation is an embellishment of speech. 
Therefore the children should have frequent exercises in 
pronouncing words which are commonly mispronounced. 
These lists may be written on the board to be pronounced 
during the word-study exercise. By this method much may 
be done toward fixing the habit of correct pronunciation : — 

Give the sound of 6 as heard in the word clock. Give it five times. 
Put the sound into each of the following words. 



o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


clock 


gone 


frog 


long 


lost 


soft 


not 


song 


moss 


cost 


dog 


fog 


log 


toss 


wrong 



KEGULAR SERIES — FIRST READER. 



Give the sound of u as heard m the word few. 
Put this sound into each of the following words. 



Give it five times. 



u u u 
tune tulip beauty- 
tube pupil July- 
June music puny 



Give the sound of a as heard in the word far. Give it five times. 
Put the sound into each of the following words. 



u 


u 


few 


blew 


dew 


blue 


new 


grew 



a 


a 


a 


a 


a 


far 


laugh 


star 


arm 


path 


charm 


palm 


salve 


calf 


aunt 


half 


calm 


halves 







Give the sound of a as heard in the word far. Shorten it. Make 
it as short as possible. This is a. Put this exact sound into each 
word in the list. 



a 


a 


a 


a 


a 


ask 


pass 


glass 


dance 


clasp 


master 


grass 


class 


pasture 


plaster 


cast 


draft 


last 


task 




casket 


past 


mast 
The Rabbit 


fast 





For the work on pages 50-54, obtain if possible a live rabbit. One 
of the pupils may have one which he is willing to bring to school. 

Have the children note the parts, observing especially character- 
istic parts. Lead them to see how the parts are adapted to use and 
environment. 

Note the habits of the rabbit, the food it eats, how it obtains its 
food, its home, the provision it makes for winter, its life during the 
cold weather. 

Write and have pupils read, the sentences which they give. 

Have pupils reproduce words and sentences on blackboard and 
paper. 

Have them draw the rabbit. 

Read the book lessons. 

Supplement the work with lessons on pages 98, 101-103, Alternate 
First Reader. 



TO HOW TO TEACH BEADING. 



The Cow. 

Get the children interested in observing cows. Lead them to tell 
all that they can of the cow's habits and uses. 

Study parts from a good picture. Emphasize uses. 

Specimens can be obtained for pupils to observe, and experiments 
may be made, all of which will create an interest in the work. 

The following specimens or samples are obtained easily : — 
Butter, cheese, tallow (candle), plaster showing hair in it, leather, 

comb made of horn, buttons made of bone, glue made from the hoof, 

dried blood, neat's-foot oil made from the hoofs. 

Show the children a quart of milk, then set it away for cream to 
form. 

The next day take the cream from the milk, putting it into a bowl. 
Let a child stir it with a wooden spoon. Children watch, discovering 
that the oil in the cream separates from the milk, thus forming butter. 

Children are led to state in correct language first what has been 
done. 

Write the sentences given and have them read by the pupils. 
Erase work. Send pupils to the blackboard to write, stating what 
they have observed. 

Watch the children's work. If a word is misspelled, erase it, 
having the child watch as it is again written on the board. Then 
erase, and have the child write the word. 

Put rennet or acid into milk. 

Have the children observe the separation into "curd " and " whey." 
Lead them to see that the whey is drained off and the curd salted and 
pressed. After a few days it is rich yellow cheese. 

Children are led to describe the process. Matter for another read- 
ing lesson is formulated and read. 

Thus it will be seen that in the preparatory work the 
children not only learn the new words that occur in the 
book lesson, but many others, beside having the best pos- 
sible training in the use of English. 

Eor the lessons, "Rain," "Clouds," "The Little White Fairies," 
"Jack Frost," "April," "The Sun and the Wind," study the phe- 
nomena according to the outlines given on pages 85-89. 



REGULAR SERIES — FIRST READER. 71 

Perform the experiments and lead pupils to tell what they observe. 

Write the children's sentences. Have pupils read and then vvrite 
the new words. This work is especially interesting to children, if 
done as it should be done. 

Memorize poems in connection with the work, as : — 

"Sunbeams," "If I were a Sunbeam," "April Shower," "Little 
Raindrops," from Miss Lovejoy's Nature in Verse, and others which 
the teacher may select. 

Study a clock with the children before having them read lesson on 
page 58, In connection with this lesson, the children should learn to 
tell time. 

Tell them how people told time before clocks and watches were 
invented. Have them reproduce the work, thus preparing them to 
read the lesson on page 114, " How to tell Time." 

For the lessons, "The Apple Branch," "Lilac Twigs," "Mrs. 
Apple Tree," study buds according to the outline on pages 39, 40. 

Have the book lessons read. Find and make many supplementary 
lessons. 

For the lesson, "What can be found in Ten," the pupils should 
do the work and discover what can be found in numbers before read- 
ing the lesson. The little problems which they can be led to make in 
their number lessons are most valuable language and reading lessons. 

Thus every lesson can be made a means of teaching chil- 
dren to read. 

"The Flag of Our Country." Have the children study the flag; 
note its shape ; its colors ; the number of red stripes ; the number of 
white stripes. 

Tell them why our flag has thirteen stripes. 

Note the field of blue and the number of stars. Why this number ? 

Write the sentences given by the pupils. Have them write the new 
words. Have them describe the flag. Have the lesson read. 

Before reading the lessons, " Beans," " The Tiny Plant," " The Fir 
Tree," "The Little Fir Tree," have pupils study seeds according to 
the outline given on page 38. Supplement the book lessons by read- 
ing lessons given in Alternate Second Reader, pages 19-29. 

" What the Trees Gave." Study the outline for Autumn Leaves. 

Have pupils read the lessons in Alternate First Reader. 



REGULAR SERIES — SECOND READER. 

The teacher of this book is requested to read carefully 
and thoughtfully pages 7 to 71 inclusive of this manual. 
The same careful preparation for reading therein indicated 
should be continued. 

The pupils must be prepared for the book-text by work 
which will increase their desire to know what the lesson in 
the book has in store for them. They will take pleasure 
in learning to read, if they have an interest in the subjects 
about which they are to read. The greater their interest in 
a subject, the greater will be their delight in reading about it. 

It is not good educational policy to simplify reading mat- 
ter to the children's standard of untrained expression. It 
is better educational work to raise this standard of ex- 
pression to the plane of good English construction. This 
can be done only by training them to talk well. Talking 
well involves much more than talking with grammatical ac- 
curacy. It involves structure of composition, the sequential 
arrangement of thought, and the use of the idiom that prop- 
erly and elegantly represents such arrangement. To learn 
to talk well, children must learn to see groups of associate 
thought as entireties. They must see the relations of the 
parts of such groups or units, if they are descriptions, 
respecting position, size, color, form, etc. ; or, if they are 
groups of events, respecting time or the relative importance 
of the events constituting the unit. 

The greater part of the work of learning to talk well is 
that of thoroughly learning something to talk about, and 
the greater part of teaching a child to talk well, and after- 
wards to read well, is that of leading him to properly learn 

72 



REGULAR SERIES — SP:C0ND READER. 73 

something to talk about and read about. The subjects 
about which the child should learn and about which he 
should be led to talk, should be those about which he will 
afterward be called upon to read. 

The work given in this book is based on thought expres- 
sion. Many of the lessons are drawn from experiences of 
childhood, and are therefore easily understood by children. 
There are culture lessons bearing on truth, duty, obedience, 
unselfishness, politeness, self-respect, love and patriotism; 
lessons pertaining to industrial pursuits, in which children 
are especially interested and about which they should 
know; lessons pertaining to the sports and pastimes of 
childhood ; stories of well-known animals and plants which, 
if studied properly, will lead the child to see the pictur- 
esqueness and natural beauty of his surroundings. 

Most of the words used in this book are in the vocabula- 
ries of the children who will read it. The children know 
the meanings of most of the words well enough to use them 
for the expression of what they want to say, but they do 
not know the use of many of the idioms used. The use 
of these must be taught them by conversation. Let the 
teacher remember, however, that the children must be made 
to do the talking, and, when talking, must be led to use the 
proper idiom. After the desired idiom has been secured, 
it may be written on the board, that the children may learn 
its form before they meet with it in the text. 

If one-half of the time which is usually spent in teachiiig 
pupils the mere art of reading were devoted to enlarging 
their store of knowledge, developing perception by the 
study of thought material, and training them to tell in 
good idiomatic English what they have discovered, the 
children would grasp the meaning of the selections read, 
do more reading, and read far better than they now do. 
Growth in power to read understandingly and profitably 
requires the learner to keep constantly in touch with origi- 
nal sources of knowledge. How often during the reading 



7-1 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

exercise a child is asked to re-read a sentence, a paragraph, 
or a stanza for the purpose of giving better expression to 
the reading ! The desired expression is not secured by the 
repetition. The child fails to give the correct expression, 
because he does not comprehend what he reads; the idio- 
matic language employed is not a part of his verbal posses- 
sion, and his expression is but the index of his mental 
state. He has nothing with which to understand. 

It is inconsistent with reason and common sense to ask a 
child to read and re-read a selection, and then explain 
the meaning of words, phrases and idiomatic expressions. 
Study, genuine study, of the subject should precede the 
oral reading. 

By this method of learning to read the children will be 
able to read understandingly, not only the regular reading 
lesson, but the many selections which supplement the read- 
ing lesson. Supplementary reading, to be of value, should 
supplement the lesson, and be read in connection with the 
lesson given in the reader used by the pupils. 

Much of the so-called sujjplementary reading used for 
sight reading does the children an injury. They may call 
words at sight, read readily, give proper inflection and 
emphasis, and yet not comprehend what they are reading. 
They thus form a habit of reading without thinking of 
what they read — the worst of habits. 

The children's training should make them ready in ask- 
ing questions about the meanings of phrases which they do 
not understand. Their training should make them unwill- 
ing to let a word or sentence pass of whose meaning they 
are ignorant. The teacher should appreciate the signifi- 
cance and importance of this. 

The children should be made ready to read the lessons of 
this book by work adapted to the lessons respectively. 
Definiteness of purpose should characterize every prepa- 
ration. There should be variety of methods in the work 
of preparation. 



REGULAR SERIES — SECOND READER. 75 

The good teacher will give as much variety to this work 
as is found in the topics on which the lessons treat, in- 
creased by the variety found in the forms of their settings. 

The children may be prepared for most of the lessons by 
properly conducted conversation, they doing most of the 
talking, although objective work will add greatly to the 
value of such conversations. As the talking lesson proceeds, 
let the difficult words, new phrases and involved sentences 
be written on the board to be read by the children. All of 
this work should be sequential in its order, accurate in the 
expression of exact thought, correct in its grammatical 
construction, and, while showing variety in arrangement 
and expression, should involve the use of the difficult new 
words and idioms of the text. 

For the lessons, "The Violet's Gift," "The Bloodroot," and 
" Marsli Marigolds," study the plants and flowers according to the 
outlines given on page 41. 

Have pupils reproduce on the blackboard or on paper the oral 
lessons. Have them read their written work. 

Supplement the book lessons by lessons given in Alternate Second 
Reader, pages 9-28, 50-61. 

Study fruit according to outline, page 59, before reading the lesson 
" Treasure Boxes, " Supplement the book lesson by lessons given on 
pages 61-72, Alternate Second Reader. 

Study autumn leaves (see outline page 42) before reading the les- 
sons, " The Anxious Leaf " and " October's Party." 

Have children blow soap bubbles and give the process of making 
soap bubbles before reading the lesson on page 32. 

Describe the picture. Have them read their descriptions. 
Tell the story of " Iris." Have pupils reproduce the story. 

The Eobin. 

Have the children observe robins about their homes. 
Note the robin's return, nesting, feeding young, songs, etc. 
From a stuffed specimen, note size, shape, covering, parts. 
Lead the children to see how parts are adapted to habits. 
Characteristic parts and habits should receive most attention. 



76 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

Write the work obtained from pupils. Have pupils read what is 
written. 

Tell them good stories of the robin from standard authors : — 

"How the Robin Came," by Whittier; "The North Story of how 
the Robin got its Red Breast." 

Have children reproduce in good idiomatic English all stories told. 
Use the reproductions for reading lessons. 

Have them draw the robin and color appropriately. Have charac- 
teristic parts drawn. Have nests made and drawn. 

Have the lessons read that are found on pages 38, 40, 48 and 49. 
Supplement these lessons with work found on pages 98-110 inclusive, 
in the Alternate Second Reader. 

Encourage the pupils to find stories of the robin in their home read- 
ing and bring to school to read at class time. 

Have a good stanza or whole poem memorized by the class, as : 
" How does the Robin build its Nest," etc. 



The Hen. 

Study a hen as suggested in the outline for the study of the robin. 

In connection with the study of the hen, some member of the class 
who has chickens may be able to tell of the varied and expressive 
language of the hen. 

If disturbed on her nest she resents with a scolding note. After 
laying an egg her joy is expressed by a " cackle.'''' To quiet the brood 
nestled under her broad, protecting wings, she has a gentle " soothing 
croon.'''' Her little flock is kept near her by her frequent '^ cluck, 
cluck.''^ AYhen food is discovered, she divides and shares it with a 
" chuckle.''' In danger she gives a cry of warning. 

The promptness with which the chickens obey should be especially 
noted. 

Study the duck or goose. 

Compare the hen and the duck. 

Have pupils reproduce work on blackboard and paper. Watch 
carefully the written work. If words are misspelled, erase, and have 
pupils watch as the word is written in correct form, after which have 
them write the word from memory. Have them read what they write. 

Read the lessons, pages 52 and 62. Supplement these lessons with 
lessons pages 73-92, inclusive, in Alternate Second Reader. 

Obtain other books containing lessons which will supplement these 
lessons. Have pupils transform the poem " Advice." 



REGULAR SERIES — SECOND READER. 



77 




India Rubber. 

Material : Rubber and many articles made of rubber. Turtle shell 
and palm nuts. 

Lead children to describe the picture. 

Have them write after the oral description is given. 

Have them read their descriptions. 

Lead them to tell the story which the picture suggests. 

Reproduce the story on paper. 

Have the children read their stories. 

Tell them of the country in which rubber trees grow. 

Have them read the book lesson silently before reading it orally. 

Have pupils reproduce the lesson without reference to the book. 

Making Paper. 



Material : Different kinds of paper. 

Collecting rags. 

Where taken ? Paper mill. 

Sorting, removing buttons, pins, hooks and eyes, etc. 

Cleansing. Soaking and boiling in soda water. 

Cutting by a machine furnished with sharp knives. 

Put into a vat called a "draining chest," where the water is 
drained from the rags. 

Pasty mixture bleached with chloride of lime, after which it is 
again put into the machine, where it is boiled, washed and chopped 
until it looks like thick cream. 

Put into a vat, where it is beaten and churned until it is just the 
right thickness. 



78 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

Put into a machine which spreads the pulp over wire sieves, which 
strain it. 

Pressing. Drying. 

Sizing, if letter paper. Polishing. 

Ruling, cutting, sorting, counting, making into packages ready for 
the market. 



If possible, go witli tlie children to a paper mill. 

Tell them the process of making paper, using the utmost 
care both with the structure of the thought and with the 
construction of the sentences. Then let them reproduce the 
same, being guided in securing sequential arrangement of 
thought and purity of language. As the reproductions de- 
velop let them appear on the board, to be read by the chil- 
dren. 

Have them read the lesson on page 80. 

Have them write the process of making paper, from an 
outline placed on the board. 

The written work should be watched by the teacher, and 
each child should be led to correct his mistake when it is 
made. 

Tell the children a story of the first paper-makers. 

Follow the plan suggested above. Have the book lesson 
read, after Avhich have children reproduce the story from a 
good outline. 

Then give them the process of making " Wood Pulp." 

These lessons should be taken as a group or unit of 
work. 

After the work has all been done as suggested, the 
children should read the three lessons consecutively. 
Several other stories on the same subjects should be found 
for them to read. 

Do corresponding work in preparing pupils to read the 
lessons on pages 90, 91, 93, 102, 107, 124. 



REGULAR SERIES — SECOND READER. 79 



The Wagon. 

Lead the children to describe each picture given in this lesson. 

As the description progresses let the difficult words, new phrases 
and involved sentences be written on the board, to be read by the 
children. 

After giving the oral description, have pupils reproduce it on the 
blackboard or on paper. 

The following illustrates what the pupils will write after the oral 
work. 

An Old-fashioned Drag. 

This picture represents one method of carrying goods before the 
wagon was invented. 

Across the back of a horse is a pad, to each side of which a pole is 
fastened. The poles are so long that the front ends extend above the 
horse's head, while the other ends drag on the ground. 

The poles are fastened together with crosspieces. This was called 
a drag. 

A large bundle is tied to the drag. 

The horse trots off as if the load were not very heavy. 

Don't you think goods carried in this way would be injured by 
hitting rocks and stumps ? 

Have pupils read their descriptions. They are then prepared to 
study and read silently the book lesson. Have the book lesson read. 

Have the children, without reference to the book, write a repro- 
duction of the lesson. 

Do corresponding work for the preparation of pupils in 
reading the lesson, " Modes of Travel/' page 142. 

Study the bee, the moth, the fly, the ant and the grass- 
hopper as suggested in outline, page 44. 

Have pupils reproduce in writing the oral work. 

Have them read what they write. 

Have them read the fables, "The Ely and the Moth," "The Ants 
and the Grasshopper." 

Ilave them reproduce these without referring to the book. 

Supplement these lessons by work given in Alternate Second 
Reader, pages 111-133. 



REGULAR SERIES — THIRD READER. 

The chief work in teaching the child to read is that of 
giving him information from other sources than the printed 
page. 

It is requisite first in teaching children to read Third 
Reader text that they be prepared for the work. ^J^ot yet 
are they to "read that they may know." They are to be 
made to know in advance of the attempt at learning to read, 
that they may properly and easily acquire that power. 

The children must be prepared for the reading lesson by 
such work as will give them knowledge of the subjects 
about which they will read, and at the same time will create 
in them a desire to know more of these subjects. 

The teacher may be certain that the more the children 
know, the more easily will they learn to read ; the more 
accurate their knowledge is, the more intelligent will be 
their reading; the more nearly the text represents what 
they know and have expressed, the more enjoyable will 
learning to read be to them. 

The teacher, therefore, must prepare himself to give 
broad and accurate information on those subjects of which 
the lessons treat, the information in every instance to pre- 
cede the reading lesson. 

In this preparatory work the lessons should be as care- 
fully planned as are any other lessons of the school. The 
plan in each instance will be suggested by the text, which 
of course the teacher must read in advance. In the devel- 
opment of these lessons the child should be made to do 
most of the talking. The utmost care should be exercised 
to have the child talk correctly ; to have him as far as prac- 

80 



REGULAR SERIES — THIRD READER. 81 

ticable use the language of the text, especially the technical 
part of it ; to use sentences that are as involved as those of 
the text ; to pronounce the words correctly ; to use the 
voice in natural, conversational tones. The transition from 
such intelligent conversation to the reading of matter corre- 
sponding to what has been said is thus made easy, interest- 
ing and prohtable. 

Children "stumble" over words whose meaning or whose 
relations they do not know, and over these alone. How 
wise it is, then, to cause them first to know the words they 
are to read, and to know their uses in relations as involved 
as those in which they will find them when first met with 
on the printed page. 

How could the correct use of language be taught more 
profitably than in the way suggested above ? The first lan- 
guage lessons and the first reading lessons should be on the 
same subjects, and should be essentially the same matter. 
As language lessons, they should proceed from seeing, doing 
and knowing; as reading lessons, they should proceed from 
the expression of what has been seen or done and is known. 

The children should be prepared to read the lessons that 
relate to geography by exactly such work as would be done 
if the purpose were to teach them the facts given as geog- 
raphy lessons. 

This means, according to circumstances, journeys to the 
fields or woods ; work with sand maps ; work in drawing 
maps ; work in examining products, etc. The children 
should know this, not as work preparing them for the read- 
ing lesson, but as delightful employment in getting infor- 
mation. The reading should be to confirm what they have 
learned by other means. 

If the lesson is historical, the children may be prepared 
for it by the examination of articles of dress, or other 



82 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

things showing modes of life or conditions of the people, 
and by conversation about them ; by having narratives and 
descriptions read to them, which they are to reproduce ; by 
an examination of pictures and intelligent conversation 
about them, etc. 

It will be found an easy matter to interest a class in the 
children of other lands by talking about them, reading 
anecdotes about them, showing interesting articles of wear- 
ing apparel or playthings, about all of which the children 
must be made to talk. 

The children's interest must be kept up. They must be 
made aggressive. How easy it is for the teacher to create 
a strong desire on the part of the child to read about 
Columbus, Washington or Lincoln, by conversation that 
will give them the words and their relations as they will 
be found later on the printed page ! 

The children should be prepared to read the lessons re- 
lating to the humanities, intemperance, selfishness, gener- 
osity, etc., by practical lessons, or by story or anecdote, 
giving them correct, definite ideas, broadening their view. 
They should then reproduce words, idioms and involved 
sentences corresponding to those which they will be called 
on to read. 

The children may be required to define words or give 
synonyms. The result of this should be to make them 
strong in seeing the meaning of words as they are used. 
They need no dictionary for this work. The dictionary 
will be a disadvantage. The teacher should be careful to 
make the children see that a noun must not be defined by 
a verb or a verb by a noun; an infinitive by a participle, 
etc. The result of this should be to make them see mean- 
ings in forms of words. The printed page should have 
more meaning to children than it usually has. It ought to 
do much, and may easily be made to do much, toward 
teaching them the grammar of the language. 

It is excellent work to require children, after reading a 



REGULAR SERIES — THIRD READER. 83 

passage making an assertion concerning a form or other con- 
dition, to verify the same by reference to the object, picture 
or other source from which the information is obtained. 

The chihlren may Avith profit be caused to re-read some- 
times, hokling in their hands the object or picture, or point- 
ing to it, verifying what they read. This will greatly aid 
them to read naturally or as they talk. The reading should 
be a talking from the book. While one reads, let the other 
children of the class listen, with closed eyes, to what is read, 
after which let them decide whether or not the one reading 
read as if he understood what he read, and whether or not 
he so rendered it that others could understand it. 

It is profitable work for pupils to describe pictures that 
might be used for illustrating lessons which are not illus- 
trated. It is also profitable for children to draw such 
illustrations on paper or blackboard. After such words or 
pencil pictures have been made it is most j)rofitable to have 
the text re-read. 

Care should be given to the pronunciation of words when 
the lessons are talked about ; especially should this be true 
of the new words of each lesson, that the children may pro- 
nounce such words correctly when they first see them in 
the text. The difficult new words should be written on the 
board for drill in pronouncing and spelling. (The idioms 
should be written and read as entireties.) 

Children may be trained to use and to control the organs 
of speech by much practice in sounding the consonants. 
Instead of urging the pupil to " read louder " when he is not 
understood, he should be trained to speak distinctly. It 
will be found that the child needs to be shown how to 
adjust the organs of speech, that he may properly and 
distinctly make the sounds represented by the consonants 
respectively. Careful work will secure distinct and pleas- 
ant speech. 

The "Phonic Drill Chart" on page 221, the key words 



84 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

for which have been selected with great care, can be made 
especially serviceable in training children in the elements 
of enunciation. The frequent use of this table will not only 
familiarize them with the various sounds of the letters, but 
will acquaint them with the diacritical marks employed 
to distinguish those sounds. The "List of Words for Pro- 
nunciation " can be used to illustrate the application of the 
markings and to extend the drill in enunciation. 

It may be a good plan occasionally to have the children 
hunt in this list for a given word, especially one that has 
been mispronounced, to see if its correct pronunciation can 
be determined by them from the markings employed. Such 
work, intelligently done, a little at a time, leads naturally 
to an appreciative use of the dictionary later on. At first 
no word not known to be included in the list should be 
asked for. 

Study " Vapor " as suggested by the following outline : — 

Have the pupils study and read lessons 4, 9 and 27. 

Read the work on " Vapor " given in the Alternate Third Reader. 

Read Andersen's " The Story of a Year," " The Snow Man." 

Read other descriptions, poems and stories about the phenomena. 

Songs: "The Rain," "The Snow Clouds," "Tiny Little Snow- 
flakes," "A Million Little Diamonds," etc. Other songs pertaining 
to the subject. 

Have frequent compositions. 

Have pupils memorize poems relating to the subject studied. 

Tell them appropriate myths in connection with the phenomena 
studied. Have them illustrate and reproduce the stories. 

The following are suggested: "Apollo's Cows," " Aurora's Tears 
for Memnon," " Thor and his Hammer," "Iris," "Neptune," 
"Thetis." 

Air : 

1. Some of its properties : 

(a) It is tasteless. 

(6) It cannot be seen. 

(c) It is transparent. 

(d) It can be felt, 

(e) When heated it rises. 



KEGULAR SERIES — THIRD READER. 85 

Vapor : 

1. Evaporation and condensation : 

(a) Give many illustrations of the " drying " that is constantly 

going on from every moist surface. 
(&) Show that heat changes water into vapor. 

(c) Show that the coolness of the air changes its vapor to 

water-dust. 

(d) Show that warm air changes water-dust into vapor. 

(e) Show that the air is full of moisture. 

2. Sources of vapor : 

(a) Water changed to vapor by artificial heat. 

(6) Water changed to vapor by the heat of the sun : from 

brooks, rivers, lakes, etc. ; from streets, grass, trees, 

etc. ; from every wet surface. 

3. Different forms of vapor. 

(a) Dew. Show — 

(1) That vapor in air is changed to water by chilling 

the air. 

(2) That cold grass, leaves, etc., at night chill the air 

near them, changing its vapor into water-dust. 

(3) That dew is more noticeable on certain nights than 

on others. 
(6) Frost: 

(1) The frozen dew on grass, leaves, etc. 

(c) Clouds. Show — 

(1) That the air is full of vapor. 

(2) That contact with cold air changes the vapor to 

water-dust, that floats in the air in different and 
changing forms. 

(d) Rain : 

Show that by the uniting of the floating drops of water 
or water-dust, larger drops, too heavy to float, are 
formed. 

(e) Hail: 

Frozen rain. 
(/) Snow : 

Frozen water-dust. 
(g) Sleet: 

Snowflakes partly melted by warm wind. 
(7i) Fog, Mist, etc. 

Changes of weather noted each day ; make weather charts ; 



86 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

changes in length of day noted ; changes in length of shadows ; 
direction of wind, etc. 

Experiments. 

Air : 

1. Properties : 

Eor (a), (6), (c), (d), .no experiments need be suggested, 
(e) When heated, air rises : 

(1) Hold the hand over lamp, over register, over candle, 

over radiator, etc. 

(2) Hold piece of smoking paper in fireplace. Use the 

smoking paper in (1). Current of air may be seen 
carrying the smoke. 

(3) Hang threads, pieces of paper or spiral cut from 

paper, over lamp, register, candle, etc. Currents 
of air move them. 

2. Air in motion : 

(a) Draughts : 

(1) Place a lamp chimney at the edge of table over a 

short candle. Hold smoking paper at the side of 
lower opening. Direction of currents — draught 
— shown by smoke. 

(2) Hold burning candle at cracks of doors and win- 

dows ; at fireplace, ventilating shafts, etc. 
Vapor in the air : 

1. Evaporation and condensation : 

(a) (1) Moisten slates with damp sponge ; observe the disap- 
pearance of water. 

(2) Observe water in shallow dishes in the schoolroom ; 

in tumblers, marking the decrease day by day. 

(3) Observe the drying of pavements after rain. 

(4) Observe the drying of clothes hung on lines. 

(5) Dip the hand in water and wave in the air. 

(6) Pour a few drops of alcohol on slate ; observe the 

rapid disappearance. 

(7) Heat water over a flame ; it disappears. 
(&) (1) Heat changes water into vapor. 

(2) Teakettle and oil-stove or alcohol lamp. By constant 
boiling water disappears. 
(c) (1) Hold a plate or tumbler in the cloud of steam ; it 
will be covered with fine drops, showing that the 
water of the kettle has gone from the kettle into 
the air. 



REGULAR SERIES — THIRD READER. 87 

(2) Hold a cold dry plate close to the mouth of the spout, 

where nothing can he seen. The plate becomes 

covered with drops of water, showing that this 

clear space was filled with water that could not be 

seen — vapor. 

{d) Hold a lighted candle under the cloud of water-dust 

issuing from the spout. It disappears — is changed by 

the heat to vapor. 

2. Sources of vapor. 

(a) Artificial heat. 

Heating of liquids on stoves and with gas ; drying of 
clothes before fires, etc. 

(6) All parts of the earth are heated by the sun. Air coming 
in contact with heated portions is heated and rises. The 
surfaces of bodies of water or bodies that are wet and 
moist are heated ; the water is gradually changed to 
vapor, which is carried in the rising air in all directions 
and to great heights. Use experiments given to illus- 
trate this. 

3. Different forms in which the vapor is seen. 

(«) Dew: 

(1) Carry a dry pitcher into the schoolroom. Fill it 

with ice water. Observe drops forming on the 
outside. Vapor in air is changed to water. 

(2) Breathe on window glass or mirror. Dimness due 

to condensation of moisture in breath. 

(3) At night grass, trees, walks, etc., become cool, 

owing to the absence of sun-heat. The air com- 
ing in contact with them is chilled, and the vapor 
is changed to water, as on the pitcher. 

(4) Variation of amount of dew, due to variation in the 

amount of moisture in the air and in the coldness 
of objects. 
(6) Frost — frozen dew. 

Why is it on the inside of windows ? Observe the 
change from frost to dew and from dew to vapor 
under the influence of sun-heat. Study this on a 
frosty morning, 
(c) Clouds : 

Use experiments described under vapor, — teakettle and 

stove, etc. 
Observe the appearance of a cloud in a clear sky and 
its sudden disappearance, also changes in form. 



88 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

(d) Rain : 

In holding tlie plate in the cloud of steam, observe how 
the water-dust gathers into drops that roll down the 
plate, 
(c) Hall: 

Bring the hailstones into the schoolroom. 
(/) Snow : 

Examine the crystals ; draw the forms on the black- 
board. Observe the change into water and the change 
of the water-drop into vapor. 
(g) Sleet, fog, mist : as suggested by experiments. Fog and 
mist are clouds near the surface of the earth. 

Suggestions. 

1. Do not attempt to teacli more than the children can 
understand. 

2. Require them to bring into school the results of their 
own experiments and observations. 

3. Give the above lessons when the weather conditions 
are such as to admit of actual observation of phenomena. 

Books of Reference for Teachers. 

Science for All, Vol. I., "Ice, Water and Steam, Air and Gas." 
Vol. II., " How Sunshine warms the Earth," " Why the Rain falls." 
Vol. III., "Why the Clouds float and What the Clouds say," "Dew 
and Hoar Frost," " How a Snowflake is formed," "How Hailstones 
are forged in the Clouds." Vol. IV., " Fogs." 

Paul Bert's First Steps in Science, Tyndall's Forms of Water, 
Buckley's Fairyland of Science, Shaler's First Book in Geology, 
Geikie's Physical Geography, Huxley's Physiography, Heilprin's The 
Earth and its Story. 

The Seasons. 

During their study of nature the children have been led 
to observe the coming and going of birds, and to note the 
time of year of each ; they have observed the birds that do 
not leave, and the kinds of homes built by many birds ; 
they have observed the preparation which man, animals 



REGULAR SERIES — THIRD READER. 89 

and plants make for cold weather ; tliey have observed the 
coming of snow, the coming of flowers, the length of the 
days and the changing position of the sun with each 
change of season. 

With this knowledge gained by observation they are 
prepared to understand to some extent : — 

(1) The cause of day and night, (2) the cause of change of season, 
(3) the rapidity with which the earth travels, (4) the distance traveled 
each year. 

Material needed : A globe 8 to 12 inches in diameter ; a smaller 
globe suspended by a string ; a lamp. 

Tell the story of Magellan ; trace his voyage on the globe. 

Show the rotundity of the earth by use of the globe, illustrating the 
disappearance of ships at sea. 

Give other proofs of the rotundity of the earth. 

Cause of day and night. 

Tell the story of Galileo. 

Ask the children simple questions, like the following : — 

When we have night what do the people have who live on the other 
side of the globe ? 

Why does the sun seem to rise in the east and set in the west ? 

Cause of change of seasons. 

Does the sun always seem to rise in the same place ? Why ? 

Illustrate by use of globe and lamp. 

Have pupils study and read lesson 13. Supplement this lesson by 
lessons given in Book II., The World and its People. 

Find other lessons on the same subject for pupils to read. 

Study and read the poems, pages 75-82. 

Lockyer's Astronomy and Primer will be helpful to the teacher. 

The Sunrise. 

Before reading lesson 17, " The Sunrise," get children interested in 
seeing the sun rise. Have them relate what they observe. Lead them 
to write a description of " Sunrise." 

Show them Guido Reni's picture of "Aurora." 

Tell them the myth "Aurora." Have them reproduce the myth. 

Study and read lessons 17 and 39. Supplement with other lessons 
relating to the subject. Read the poem on page 98. 
Tell the stories of "Phaeton," "Apollo," "Baldur." 



90 HOW TO TEACH READING. 



The Moon. 

Have children state what they observe of the heat and light of the 
sun, the moon, the stars. 

Lead them to see and note reflected light : (a) appearance of west 
windows at sunset ; (5) the reflection of lamps and fires in mirrors ; 
(c) the apparent light in windows from the reflection of street lamp, 
head-lights of locomotives, etc. 

Have pupils observe the full moon — note its position in reference to 
the sun. 

Call attention to the dark patches on the full moon. Tell the story 
in Hiawatha showing what the Indians thought. 

Show the cause of the j^huses of the moon, illustrating with globe 
and lamp. 

Show by use of globes and lamp the revolution of the moon around 
the earth. 

Let the children note the time from new moon to new moon. 

Teach the meaning of the names of the months. 



The Sun's Family. 

Get the children interested in observing the sky in the evening. 
Let them know an evening star — Venus or Jupiter — and note that 
it changes its position among the other stars. Tell them of the evening 
star in Longfellow's Hiawatha. 

Lead them to know the North or Polar Star. Let them observe the 
needle of the compass or other magnetic needle point towards it. The 
use of the pole star to sailors. 

Show them some of the constellations — as the Dipper or Great 
Bear, etc. 

Tell them the myth of " Callisto," " Hercules." 

Show good pictures representing the myths told. 

Lead them to sec the difference between fixed stars and planets. 

Have them study and read lesson 25. 

Read other lessons relating to this subject. 

In review read lessons 13, 17, 25, 33, 39 consecutively. 



Books of Reference. 

Fiske' s 3hjths and 3hjth Makers, Mooney's Foundation Studies in 
Literature, Cox's Mythology of the Aryan Nations, Bulfinch's Age of 
Fable, Emerson's Indian Mtjths. 



REGULAR SERIES — THIRD READER. 91 

Supplement lessons 1, 5 and 11 with lessons on plants, Alternate 
Third Reader. 

Before reading these lessons have pupils study seeds and buds 
according to outlines given on pages 38-39. 



A Little Breeze. 

Study the poem with the children before asking them to read it 
aloud. 

Be very sure that they know what is meant by "saucy"; by 
"Fresh with the breath of summer seas" ; by "rippled" ; by "It 
splashed the fountain's falling spray " ; " the daisies' golden hoard " ; 
"the fountain's silver spill," 

Lead the children to state in their own words the comparison made. 



Self-Control. 

Lead the children to feel and to appreciate the meaning of the 
term self-control. See that they know the meaning of kingdom, and 
that they understand the meaning of the proverb, " He that ruleth his 
spirit is better than he that taketh a city." 

Lead the children to tell ways in which the spirit makes trouble for 
its ruler. 

See that they understand the meaning of the term intemperance. 

Lead them to see that one may be intemperate in running, jumping, 
dancing, bicycle riding, eating, etc. 

INIake clear to them the harm resulting from over-eating, or in eat- 
ing food which cannot be digested. 

Lead them to see that one may have an appetite for things that are 
harmful, as tobacco, beer and strong drink. 

Show why tobacco is harmful : (a) it contains poison ; (&) it causes 
disease ; (c) it hinders growth in every way ; (d) it is a filthy habit ; 
(e) it is an expensive habit ; (/) it leads to a desire for strong drink. 

Lead pupils to see that the best way to keep control of one's self 
is to avoid bad habits. 

During the conversation with pupils, write the difficult words, 
phrases and idioms given. 

Have them study and read lesson 12. 
Have them reproduce the lesson. 



92 HOW TO TEACH READING. 



The Indian. 

1. Appearance of our country when inhabited by the red men. 

2. Personal appearance of the Indians. 

(a) Body : large, strong. 

(b) Skin : reddish or copper-colored. 

(c) Eyes : dark and deeply set. 
{d) Hair: long, straight, black, 
(e) Face : beardless. 

3. Disposition : fierce, cruel. 

4. Dress : material, how made. 

5. Ornaments : beads of wampum, hedgehog quills, ermine, swan's 

down, tails of foxes ; faces and bodies stained with colored 
earths and juices of plants. 

6. Houses. 

(a) Holes dug in the ground. 

(6) Caves cut in the sides of rocky cliffs. 

(c) Wigwams or huts : material, how made. 

7. Furniture. 

8. Food : how obtained and prepared. 

9. Weapons : material, how made. 

10. Occupations. 

(a) Hunting: weapons, — bow and arrow, tomahawk. 
(&) Fishing : nets and traps. 

(c) Agriculture : Indian corn, how cultivated. 

(d) Manufacturing: canoes, baskets, — material, how made. 

11. Picture writing. 

Tell children of "Hiawatha's Childhood," "Hiawatha's Friends," 
" How the Canoe was Made," Longfellow's Hiawatha. 

Tell them other Indian stories from Emerson's Indian Myths. 

Have them reproduce the talking lessons and the stories told them. 

Have them make a wigwam, bow and arrow, nets, canoe. 

Have them mold a canoe, tomahawk, utensils used in cooking, etc. 

Have pupils read lessons 3 and 44. 

TJie World and its People, Book I., Lesson 33. 

Supplement with other lessons which may be found on this subject. 

Books for Teachers. 

Thatcher's Indian Biography, Frost's Indians of North America. 
Catlin's North American Indians, Ellis's The Bed Man and the White 
Man, Kingsley's Man, and Wood's Man, 



REGULAR SERIES — THIRD READER. 93 



A Journey to Eskimo Land. 

1. Situation of the home of the Eskimos. 

2. Appearance of the country. 

(a) Ice and snow, frozen ground. 

(6) Vegetation : no trees, little grass, moss, trailing vines and 

shrunken berries, 
(c) Animals : polar bear, whale, walrus, seal, birds, fish. 
(cZ) Sun, day and night, Aurora Borealis. 

3. Personal appearance of the people. 

4. Dress : material, how made. 

5. Homes : igloo, how built. 

6. Furniture, utensils. 

7. Food : how obtained, weapons used. 

8. Modes of travel. 

(a) Sledges : material, how made. 

(6) Dogs : harness. 

(c) Boats : kinds, how made. 

9. Occupation. 

(a) Hunting : bow and arrow. 
(6) Fishing : harpoon, spear. 

10. Education and treatment of children. 

11. Sports, etc. 

Have pupils make house, lamp, bed, sledge, harness, boats, bow 
and arrow, harpoon, spear. 

Have them mold blocks out of which house is built, dogs, seal, 
utensils used. 

Have them paint and draw the above. 

During the talking lessons write on the board the difficult 
words, phrases and idioms which the children use. 

At the close of each lesson have the pupils reproduce on 
paper what has been said. 

Have them read lessons 26 and 28. 

For supplementary work read Agoonack, Seven Little Sisters. 

Books of Reference for Teachers. 

Children of the Cold, Search for Franklin, Schwatka, The World, 
Kirby ; St. Nicholas, 1885 ; Wide Awake, April, 1889 ; Harper'' s Maga- 
zine, Vols. XXII., XXIX., LII. 



94 



HOW TO TEACH READING. 



Columbus. 




Birth : time and place. 

Early education. 

Place in which his boyhood was spent. 

Inclination for a sailor's life. 

Ideas most people had of earth's 

shape. 
Views of Columbus. 
Plans for a voyage to test his views. 
Applications for aid. 
Ferdinand and Isabella. 
Fitting out vessels. 
Voyage : when made and results. 
Other voyages. 
Treatment during life. 



Tell pupils the story of Columbus, following outline. 
Have them reproduce the story orally and on paper. 

Have them study and read lesson 6. 

Have them read other stories of Columbus. 

Without reference to the text, have pupils answer the 
questions at the close of lesson 6, or tell the story from a 
good outline written on the board. 

Have as many good pictures as possible to use in the 
study of Columbus. 



George Washington. 

Birth : when, where. 

Parents : devotion to George ; training. 

Education : sports, sham battles, etc. 

Occupation during latter part of youth : surveyor. 

Service in the French and Indian war. Rank : major. 

Resignation of Washington. 

Service in Revolutionary War. 

Rank : Commander-in-chief. 

Loved and respected ; why. 

Result of war. 



REGULAR SERIES — THIRD READER. 



95 



Elected President. 

Served eight years. 

Refused to accept a third term. 

Laid tlie foundation for a free and 
happy country. 

Called the "Father of his Country." 
Why. 

From the above outline tell 
the children the story of Wash- 
ington. Have them reproduce 
the story. 

Have them read lesson 10 and the poem, '^ The Twenty- 
second of February." 

Give them other stories of Washington to read. Ask 
them to find and bring to school stories of W^ashington. 

Put a good outline on the board to guide the children in 
writing the story of Washington. 




Mount Vernon. 

Where situated. 

Describe the house from the pictures represented on pages 103 and 
105. 

Built on a hill overlooking the Potomac. 

Lawn : well kept ; grove, now in which tame deer sport. 

Cabins for Washington's servants. 

Interest in the welfare of his servants ; treatment of them. 

Surroundings. 

Interior of the house. 

Attendance at church. 

Lover of animals. 

Mount Vernon now owned by a society of ladies. 

Burial-place of Washington and his wife. 

Have pupils write a description of Mount Vernon. 
Secure large pictures to supplement the ones in the book. 

Kead lesson 18. 

Have children read other lessons relating to Mount 
Vernon. 



96 HOW TO TEACH READING. 



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1 

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^^sd.^-- ■■ 


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A 



The Washington Monument. 

Where erected. 

Shape, material, height, size of base. 
Top reached by means of botli elevator and stairs. 
Inside lighted by electricity. 

Slabs of stones with appropriate inscriptions : by whom sent ; for 
what purpose ; where placed. 
Surroundings : sloping lawns. 

Have lesson 24 studied and read. 

Have pupils write a description of the monument after 
reading the lesson. 

In review, have pupils read lessons 10, 18 and 24 consecu- 
tively. 

Benjamin Franklin. 

Parentage. 

Birth : when and where. 

Education. 

Apprenticeship. 

Leaving home : going to Philadelphia. 

Occupation : printer. 

Character as a philosopher. 

Editor of Foor BichanVs Almanac. Maxims. 

Part taken in the Declaration of Independence. 

Taking messages to foreign countries. 

Electrical experiments : lightning-rods. 

Ruling motive of his life. 



KEGULAR SERIES — THIRD READER. 97 

Tell the story of Franklin, following outline. 
Have pupils reproduce it. 
Study and read lesson 36. 

Pupils will be interested now in reading Franklin's Auto- 
biography. 

Lafayette. 

Birth : when, where. 

Home : environments. 

Coming to America : age ; for what purpose. 

Fitted a vessel at his own expense : why. 

Landed : Charleston, Soutli Carohna. 

Went to Philadelphia : why ; how. 

How received by Congress. 

Became an " aide " to Washington. 

Life-long friendship between Lafayette and Washington. 

A brave soldier. 

His return to France for help. 

Influence with the French Government. 

Return to France at close of war. 

Visits to America. 

Noble and unselfish nature shown how. 

His memory cherished and name honored by Americans. 

Tell pupils the story of Lafayette, following the outline. 
Pupils reproduce the story orally. 
Study and read lesson 16. 

Supplement the work with other lessons pertaining to 
Lafayette. 

Thanksgiving Day. 

Meaning of " Thanksgiving." 

When did the custom begin ? Who inhabited America then ? 

The " Mayflower." Plymouth Rock. 

Appearance of the country. 

Miles Standish. Samoset and Squanto. 

The first winter. 

Planting of corn. 

The first Thanksgiving. Massasoit and his friends. 

A day of rejoicing. 

Made a national holiday. Appointed by whom. 

Study and read lesson 22. 



REGULAR SERIES — FOURTH READER. 

The teacher is asked to read carefully the suggestions 
giveu iu this Manual for the Third Reader. 

The successful teacher studies most to kuow the learn- 
ing point in the minds of his pupils, whatever subject 
he teaches. In the teaching of no other subject is the 
learning point missed or overreached oftener than in the 
teaching of reading. This is especially true in the transi- 
tion from primary to intermediate reading ; that is, the 
reading which is done for the purpose of learning the use of 
words as conveyers of ideas well in mind, and that which is 
done for the purpose of getting new ideas, new knowledge, 
by use of the same words. Too much is taken for granted. 
Not enough care is given to making sure that the child 
reads understandingly. What is of more significance, not 
enough effort is made to develop power to understand and 
interpret symbols, i.e., written and printed words. 

Before the child can read profitably matter representing 
new thought, his mind must be enriched with nuclei of in- 
formation gained from original channels, — persons, things, 
experiences, in manifold variety. These, with conclusions 
thereon and imaginings therefrom, must be expressed in 
words. These symbols must be read by the child as he has 
given them orally, that he may know the relation of oral to 
written words and the relation of symbol to idea, to the 
end that he may have a broad comprehension of the office of 
symbols. 

Very slowly does the child learn to see thought in sym- 
bols. The nuclei established in the mind through original 
channels of information are the standards for comparison 

98 



J^EGULAit SERIES — FOURTH READER. 99 

by which all symbols are interpreted. To see that the 
mind of the child interprets correctly and with intelligence 
is the chief step in the teaching of reading in the Fourth 
Eeader stage of the work. The transition from the reading 
of matter expressing what the child has learned from origi- 
nal sources of information — matter representing what he 
already knows — to the reading of matter for gaining infor- 
mation, cannot be made rapidly, and should be directed with 
great care. It should be begun soon after the child begins 
to read. 

The teacher should make sure that the new reading 
matter is within the interpretive limit of the child's mind. 
If this is made sure, the imagination will be healthily 
developed and the reader will be instructed as well as 
entertained. By such careful training only, can the child 
be fitted for an intelligent study of geography and history 
from texts, or for an appreciative reading or hearing of 
fiction or poetry. 

The tests for success or failure in this work, or for prog- 
ress, should be such as will show how well the child is able 
to image, and express in some original way, by brush, pen- 
cil, words or other sign, the meaning of what he reads, 
rather than how well or how readily he is able to pronounce 
the words. The skillful teacher will not forget that in case 
of imsatisfactory results the failure will not be remedied, 
nor the lack made good, by drill in spelling or sight work 
in recognizing words, but that the reading may be made 
satisfactory only by a review of the process through which 
the child was taught what the symbols represent, or, what 
is better, by development from a standpoint differing from 
the first. Children do not understand alike. 

The teaching that presents subjects to the capacities of 
every child is the only teaching by which the school can do 
justice to all who attend it and secure the approbation of 
all who send to it. 



100 HOW TO TEACH READING. 



OUR BEAUTIFUL WORLD. 



The lessons given under the general titles, "Our Beauti- 
ful World," and "Vapor," in the Alternate Third Eeader, 
are well adapted to training the pupils to read for the pur- 
pose of gaining information; also, to training them in good 
delivery. While subserving these two important ends of 
the reading exercise, they will, if intelligently taught, serve 
as the best possible beginning for the rational study of 
geography, as well as an excellent preparation for the read- 
ing of history. 

Preparatory to the reading of these lessons, the children 
should be taken to the fields to observe the decay of rocks, 
the making of soil, the running of streams, the washing 
of hillsides, the cutting of valleys, the denuding of hill- 
tops and the numerous other phenomena which the casual, 
uncultivated reader does not see, cannot see, but which the 
pupils should be trained to see before they are allowed to 
read the matter given in this unit of work. Much of this 
work may be done in the schoolroom, involving the exami- 
nation of rocks and pebbles, and the study of the causes of 
their forms. Miniature coal mines may be made to appear; 
the different kinds of coal may be examined; different kinds 
of rock — shale, sandstone, limestone, etc. — may be studied 
advantageously in the schoolroom. 

The purpose of this is to give information, and especially 
to open the eyes of the children, and to put them in a 
proper intellectual attitude to their surroundings, when, for 
any cause, they go into the fields or on to the hilltops. 

During the progress of this study the children learn many 
geographical facts, — facts which are valuable as interpreters 
in their further reading and as nuclei in their further 
acquisition of geographical information. Some of these 
are concepts of valleys, slopes, water divides, drainage 
areas, of denuding of land surfaces, of filling of lake 
basins and of chans^es of courses of streams. 



REGULAR SERIES — FOURTH READER. 101 

These are the geographical alphabet for further reading 
and investigation. 

Some of these lessons must be given many times, because 
the real meaning of many of the phenomena is difficult of 
perception. During the progress of this series of lessons 
the children should handle many specimens and talk about 
tliem; make river basins in sand and talk about them; 
make miniature ranges of hills and talk about them; com- 
pound small valleys into larger ones and talk about them ; 
gather the waters of many little streams and carry them 
down in one large flow to lake or ocean; define, that is, 
bound, the smaller basins and in turn the large basins 
including the smaller ones, thus building in the mind con- 
cepts by means of which in later study they may be made 
to understand the great basins or drainage areas of which a 
continent is made. During all this activity with the mind 
and hand, they should read about the subjects upon which 
they are engaged. This reading is made intelligible by the 
previous preparation and by the fact that most of it is 
either exemplified or illustrated in the schoolroom. 

One object of the work thus far should be the training of 
the imagination of the child. If he goes from home he sees 
other places and compares them with his own, for which 
comparison he has been prepared; he sees hills, valleys, 
streams, plains and other phenomena, which he interprets by 
what he learned in his home study. If he does not travel 
from home he takes journeys in imagination, through the 
medium of books put into his hands for that purpose. He thus 
in imagination visits other places in distant states. These he 
finds on river banks or by the seaside. He sees ranges of 
hills, valleys, mountains, streams, dams, canals, factories ; 
he witnesses processes and examines products, in every step 
of which comparisons are made and conclusions drawn. 

The following outlines are suggestive of the work that 
should be done pre^Daratory to an intelligent and appreciative 
reading of the lessons and poems given in this unit of reading. 



102 



HOW TO TEACH READING. 



Formation of Soil. 




Note the decay of rocks that is 
constantly taking place. 

Visit a locality where decayed 
rocks can be seen and examined. 
Secure specimens of such rocks. 

Examine the surrounding soil. 
Take some of the soil with the 
decayed rock to school for ex- 
amination. From these observa- 
tions and those made in other 
places lead pupils to see that the kind of soil of a vicinity depends 
largely on the underlying rock. 

Lead the children to see how decaying vegetation aids in the forma- 
tion of soil and how it affects its fertility ; visit the woods for this 
purpose. 

Obtain specimen of soil for study. Visit fields. Lead the children 
to see that the top layer consists largely of decayed vegetation. Plants 
turn black as they rot, thus making this layer of soil a dark color. 
Have the children note places where excavations are made. Collect 
samples of soil from different, depths. Have pupils examine these 
soils to find out their composition. 



Agents in Soil Making. — Lead the children to see the work which 
ice, snow, frost, heat, wind, air, water, roots, etc., do in making soil. 
Lead them to see that water soaking into the crevices and pores of 
rocks expands by freezing, thus breaking the rock. Illustrate this 
expansion of frozen water by letting water freeze in glass bottles ; 
refer to the bursting of water pipes caused by the freezing of water. 



REGULAR SERIES — FOURTH READER. 



103 



Tell the children how stonecutters employ this method of breakmg 
rock in quarries. 

Lead the children to see that sudden changes in temperature will 
cause rocks to crumble and decay, — work of heat and frost. Also 
notice that after the rock begins to decay, seeds seeking a home, but 
needing no soil, only a place to fasten themselves, fall upon this rock 
and grow ; that in time these plants form a network, keeping the rock 
moist with acids from plants, which help to rot the rock and make it 
crumble. 

Lead them to see that in time earth forms in the cracks and crevices 
of the rock, making it possible for plants having roots — grasses and 
low shrubs — to grow ; that the growing roots help in breaking the 
rock, making it crumble and decay. 

Thus the children may be led to see that soil, after a forest begins, 
grows rapidly in two ways, — first by the constant decay of vegetation, 
and second by decaying rock caused by the acid in water from decayed 
vegetation as well as by the expansion of freezing water. 

Lead them to see upon what the fertility of the soil depends ; also, 
how soil is carried and distributed over the plains. 




Sandstone. — By examining a freshly broken stone, children dis- 
cover that it is rough ; that the roughness is caused by sand grains ; 
that by scratching the stone with a knife a harsh grating sound is 
produced ; that placing a piece between the teeth causes a sensation 
like that produced by sand taken into the mouth. By these observa- 
tions and experiments they may be led to see that sandstone is made 
of sand grains united to form a compact rock. 



104 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

Lead tliem to see that such rock cracks after being exposed to the 
weather — rain, hail, sleet, snow and frosts — for years, and that the 
crevices fill with water, which freezes and expands, causing the rock to 
break and crumble, or to decay. These pieces fall and are carried 
by the rains to brooks and rivers, where by the action of water they 
are ground until the whole is separated into tiny grains of sand, to be 
carried to the ocean, where they may help to form other sandstone 
rocks. 

Tell the children that these sandstones decay under the soil, along 
the banks of rivers and on the seashore. 

Sand. — Have the children examine sand, — noting shape, size, 
hardness, sharpness, cutting properties and color. 

Show how sand is used by man in glass-cutting. 

Lead them to see that the cutting power of a stream of water de- 
pends very much on the amount of sand and pebbles it has in it. 

Show that by this means the river water gets a power of wearing 
stones. 

Show that much of the sand carried by rivers is deposited on the 
banks and mixed with the soil. 

Show that the sand carried to the sea may by pressure form sand- 
stone rock. Illustrate by the packing and hardening of salt. 

Note uses of sand. 

Thus the children may be led to see and to feel the stories which 
rocks tell of the past and what they prophesy for the future. 

In a corresponding way study limestone. Secure specimens con- 
taining fossils. 

Show that water dissolves limestone. Illustrate by the incrustation 
from the bottom of the teakettle. From this children can be led to 
see that water dissolves rock. 

Show a piece of limestone and then subject it to the heat of the 
furnace. Have the children examine the furnace-heated limestone 
and note that it is lime, thereby learning one of the constituents of 
limestone. 

Show why soil should be kept open to admit air and water. 

Show why presence of stones in soil is desirable. 

Obtain from pupils the reasons for plowing in autumn. 

Have pupils read lessons 8, 4, 8, 9, 1.3, 15, 17. Have them study 
and read the poems, "Jack Frost," "On the Cliff," "Seashore," 
" The Sea." Find other poems relating to these subjects. 

Encourage pupils to find matter pertaining to these subjects. Let 
them tell what they have found and read. 



REGULAR SERIES — FOURTH READER. 



105 



Have them write the 
of a Piece of Sandstone, 



Story of a Grain of Sand, " or " The History 
etc. 



Hills and Valleys. — Visit a hill, noting its shape, parts, composi- 
tion (material of which it is made). 

Mold a hill in sand. Draw a hill. 

Obtain from pupils the names applied to different parts of a hill — 
top or summit, base, foot or bottom, slopes. 

Observe that the slopes may be gradual, steep, or abrupt. 

Call attention to the variety in size and shape of the hills pupils 
have seen. 

Show how the agents of denudation — the sun, frost, water, rain, 
mist, etc. — alter the size and shape of hills. 

Show how the wind, brooks, rivers, etc., remove the results of this 
action — the work of these agents. (See Outlines for Soil Making.) 

Show that the presence of soil and grass on a hillside helps to 
preserve its form. 

Mold and draw a chain of hills. 

Call attention to valleys. Show that some are wide while others 
are deep and narrow. 

Show that the softer the stone of which the hill is made the wider 
will be the valley. 

Have pupils read lessons 1, 2 and 5. 

Find other lessons on the same subject for pupils to read. 




Mountains. — Call attention to the difference between hills and 
mountains. 

Examine the formation of mountains. 

Mold in sand and represent a range of mountains. 



106 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

Describe a volcano ; an earthquake. 

Tell the children the story of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 
A.D. 79. Tell them of other volcanoes. 

Show that the size and forms of mountains are being constantly 
modified by the agents of denudation. 

Tell the children of the formation of glaciers, icebergs, and their 
work. Describe canons, as the canons of the Colorado. Show pic- 
tures of them. 

Lead them to see a peak, a precipice, a chasm, a pass, a gap, a 
gorge, a ravine, a plateau. 

Show how the cold, snowy heights aid in the condensation of vapor. 

Read lessons 5, 6, 7, 16. 

Supplement these lessons by lessons 4, 14, 21, and parts of lessons 
15, IG, 17, Geographical Beader. 

Encourage the children to find other lessons. 

The Hillside Spring. 

Review the work of Vapor in Third Reader. Lead pupils to tell 
what becomes of the water that falls as rain in a clayey region. Note 
the fact that part runs off in gutters and in creeks to a large stream or 
river. Show that much which is collected in pools, ponds, etc., is 
evaporated. Show that plants absorb much of the moisture. 

Lead pupils to see that much of the water which falls on permeable 
soil sinks into the earth. 

Trace the underground course of water, showing where it comes to 
the surface again, and why. Show pictures of sections representing 
caverns, the work of water. 

Visit a spring. Tell the children of iron springs, hot springs, sul- 
phur springs, geysers, etc. Have them read of the wonderful geysers 
of Yellowstone Park and Iceland. 

Lead them to see the difference between wells and springs. 

Tell them of artesian wells. 

Make all mental pictures vivid. 

Have pupils read the lesson, "The Hillside Spring." 

Find other lessons supplementing this for them to read. (Geo- 
graphical Beader, lesson 6.) 

Have pupils read the poems " The Fountain" and " The Rivulet,", 
and other poems of nature written by these authors. 

Have them read "Notes and Suggestions," pages 346 and 351, 
Fourth Reader. 

In connection with all these lessons encourage pupils to find selec- 
tions for home reading. Have them tell what they read. 



EEGULAR SERIES — FOURTH READER. 



107 



The Action of Water 




^^'l!i"^^tii!fi^l!/(lfHniii.'^^B^^J~y^'>^>^^l. 



Bivers. — Visit a stream of water which may be found in the vicinity 
in which tlie children live. The cutting power of water may be illus- 
trated in almost any region. 

The formation of alluvial land can be seen along the banks of any 
stream. The gutters after a rain will show the carriage of sand, the 
rolling of stones, etc. The pupils should be led to see how the flood 
waters overflowing the flats leave sand, mud and pebbles. Illustrate 
the carrying power of water by filling a glass jar with water contain- 
ing fine clay and sand. 

Show that rivers have their sources in springs, lakes, etc. 

Lead them to see that rivers are supplied with water by brooks, 
creeks, rivers, springs, ponds, lakes, etc. (tributaries). Smooth tilled 
fields and new dirt roads illustrate the principle of the formation of 
river systems. 

Lead pupils to see how a stream is turned from its course by ledges 
of projecting rock or by changes in the level of the ground. 

Lead them to discover how much land a river drains (river basin). 

Mold a river basin. Lead the children to see what bounds a river 
basin. 

Have them tell why the water of a river flows. Note the slopes of 
a river. 

Lead the children to see the formation of deltas. 



108 



HOW TO TEACH HEADING. 



Have pupils read lessons 11 and 12. Have the poems read. 
Find supplementary reading on this subject for pupils to read. 
{Geographical Header, lessons 6-14 inclusive.) 



Coal. — Go with the pupils to one of the "peat swamps " which are 
found so common in temperate and moist regions ; if this is not possi- 
ble, a moss suitable 
for the purpose may 
be found among the 
hills or in some low, 
marshy situation. 

From an exami- 
nation of the peat 
bogs or mosses lead 
the children to see 
that these plants are 
constantly throwing 
out new shoots, 
which store up sun- 
light in their roots, 
stems and branches, 
while the lower por- 
tions of the stems 
decay ; lead them to 
see that the roots, 
— -"" '^ "^■' stems and leaves of 

this dense mass of 
vegetation, saved from complete decay by being saturated with water, 
become blackened, softened and matted together into a thick, spongy 
mass called peat, which, cut into slabs and then pressed and dried, 
makes a fair fuel. Show specimens of such fuel. Tell children of the 
burning of peat fields. 

Tell them that frequently the leaves and stems of reeds and other 
water-loving plants are recognized in peat ; trunks and branches of 
trees have been found many feet below the surface of the ground. 
This shows that peat mosses are frequently formed upon the site of 
old forests. 

Show them that a peat bed thus formed was, by a sinking of the 
land or other cause, buried beneath a thick layer of sand, mud and 
ground-up rocks by an overflow of the sea. Thus buried, the peat was 
hardened by heat and pressed by the weight thrown upon it until it 
was gradually changed to coal. 




=3^r- 



REGULAR SERIES — FOURTH READER. 109 

Lead them to see that after the formation of this first bed of coal 
the old land was raised above the sea level ; soon a vegetation as 
dense and luxuriant as its predecessor flourished. In time partially- 
decayed vegetation accumulated, forming another bed of peat, which, 
buried beneath sand, mud and ground-up rocks by the overflow of the 
sea. became a layer of coal. This process was repeated, until layer 
after layer of coal was formed in some sections. Show pictures of 
such sections. 

Thus the children may learn that the light and heat of our fires are 
the bottled-up sunshine of past ages. 

Make all mental pictures vivid. 

Show pictures of the vegetation of the carboniferous or coal period. 

Read to pupils portions of the lesson on coal in Shaler's First 
Book in Geology. 

Ted the children how coal is taken from the ground. 

Have pupils read lesson 16. 

Find other lessons on coal for them to read. 

Have them write the story of coal in their own language. 

Books of Reference for Teachers. 

Science for All, Vol I., "Hills, Dales, and Valleys," "Rivers, 
their Work in Canon Making," "Geysers," "A Piece of Coal," 
"Lakes and how they are formed." Vol. II., "Continental Islands 
and how they are formed," "Oceanic Islands and their History," 
" Glaciers, how Glaciers move," "The Story of a Volcano," "A Peat 
Bog," "The Gravel on the Garden Path," "Why the Sea is Salt." 
Vol. IIL, "Burnt-out Volcanoes," "The Bottom of the Sea," "The 
Scenery of the Shore," "Tablelands and how they were formed," 
" Coral Islands," "The Rivers of the Sea." Vol. IV., " Earthquakes, 
how Earthquakes are caused," " A Clod of Clay," " A Grain of Sand," 
"The Wanderings of a Pebble," "Cracks in the Earth's Crust." 
Vol. v., "A Coal Field," "An Iceberg," " Rock-making Rhizopods." 

Parker's How to teach Geography, Frye's Sand Modeling, King's 
Methods and Aids in Geography, Shaler's Our Contijient, Heilprin's 
The Earth and its Story, Paul Bert's First Steps in Science, Tyndall's 
Forms of Water, Geike's Physical Geography, Huxley's Physiogra- 
phy, Ingersoll's Madam How and Lady Why, Jackman's Field Work 
in Nature Study. 



no HOW TO TEACH READING. 



PLANT LIFE OF THE EARTH AND ANIMAL LIFE OF 
THE EARTH. 

The lessons of the two sections following, viz. : '• Plant 
Life of the Earth '^ and " Animal Life of the Earth," are 
units of thought affording opportunity for systematic study. 
They present much information and are carefully embel- 
lished with poetry. It is believed that an intelligent read- 
ing of them will be interesting to the pupils and will afford 
opportunity for profitable work in word study and thought 
arrangement, as well as for elocutionary drill. 

In no case should a poetical selection be read until the 
teacher is reasonably certain that the children understand 
the lesson which the poem is intended to embellish or sup- 
plement. Thus pupils may be led to read, appreciate and 
enjoy poetry that is worthy a place in the library of the 
scholar. 

These poems, or selections from them, are gems which, 
if thought desirable, may be committed to memory. Gems 
whose sources and relations are not known by the learner, 
are of doubtful value from any standpoint except that of 
pure sentimentality. 

Much collateral matter should be read. It is believed 
that all supplementary reading should be for the expla- 
nation, for the greater elaboration, or for the practical 
application of the regular work of the school curriculum. 
Miscellaneous " supplementary reading " is not supplemen- 
tary in the right sense, in a true educative sense. By the 
reading of properly selected supplementary matter the child 
will be helped in learning how to read topically, sequentially 
and most profitably. 

Children may be encouraged to find supplementary mat- 
ter in their home reading and bring the same to recitation. 
Thus will more reading of the proper kind be insured, and, 
what is of greater value, judgment will be developed, and 
the will properly exercised and thus properly trained. 



REGULAR SERIES — FOURTH READER. Ill 

Much reading aloud before tlie class of entire selections 
or of portions representing entire units of thought is rec- 
ommended, not only for the purpose of training in good 
delivery, but for the better purpose of training the pupils 
in seeing the units of thought as entities. This will be 
facilitated by having the reader select and name the coordi- 
nate divisions of such units. Thus will pupils develop an 
appreciation of unity and sequence in what they read, and 
begin to learn their value in conversation, written composi- 
tion and in study. 

It is recommended that the imaginary stories given in 
the text be read with much care, and that many other 
stories be written by the pupils and read in class. Topics 
for such stories will suggest themselves to any one who will 
read " The Story of a Grain of Sand," page 47, or the poem 
" Lily's Ball," page 103. The object of this work is, while 
allowing spontaneity, to secure training along healthful and 
determinative lines of imagination. This is safer work than 
the reading of fairy tales. The teacher can judge of the 
intelligence with which it is done, for he can estimate the 
product by the measure of nature's laws, and therefore can 
know whether the imagination of the writer or talker is 
clear, healthy and under control, or is clouded, unintelli- 
gent, undirected or visionary. This kind of training, to- 
gether with the knowledge of the life of to-day which the 
child now has, fits him for reading stories, anecdotes and 
poems representing the leading events in the history of 
our country, and given in sequential order. 



OUR GOVERNMENT AND PEOPLE. 

While reading " Our Government and People," it should 
be the effort of the teacher to have illustrated in class the 
lives and customs of the people about whom the class is 
reading, by objects when it is possible to get them, or by 



112 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

pictures when objects cannot be secured. A veritable 
museum may be obtained througli tlie efforts of the chil- 
dren by the enterprising teacher. A veritable picture gal- 
lery may be made by any one. The museum and the 
picture gallery are both desirable. Maps should be made 
to be referred to while reading. In reading history, refer- 
ring to maps should be cultivated till it becomes a habit. 

The teacher should give such instruction and such direc- 
tion for home or seat work as will induce each child to 
employ his whole self, to put forth his best efforts for its 
accomplishment. The recitation should be such that the 
child is not only permitted, but is expected, to present that 
which he has done. Therefore the teacher must not only 
know the subject he would teach, but that he may properly 
direct pupils in their home work he must have definite 
knowledge of many sources of information respecting the 
same which he can cite with great exactness. He must 
know the respective values of such sources of information, 
the difficulties which each offers to the searcher, that he 
may correctly judge of the value of results presented to 
him. It is not enough to know the subject to be taught ; 
where and how it can be learned are important points in 
directing pupils, and how the subject is applied when 
learned is not one bit less important. 

Each new perception enriches the body of previously 
acquired perceptions, and in a measure, unappreciable it 
inify be, changes each and the whole as an entirety. Now 
the office of home and seat employments is to work over 
this new intellectual whole until the interrelations of its 
newly adjusted parts become known and the knowledge 
becomes a source of power to its possessor. 

Many comparisons should be made between persons read 
about and ourselves, between modes of life of other times 
and those of our day, etc. This talk will lead to much 
collateral reading, which should be encouraged. It must 
be remembered that the object is not only to teach the 



REGULAR SERIES — FOURTH READER. 113 

children to read this text, but, what is of greater value, to 
give them power to read history uiiderstandingly. If this 
is accomplished, they will have learned to read. 

The poetical and prose selections supplementing this 
unit of work will be understood by the child when he 
knows the history of the growth of free government. A 
reading of these, with the knowledge of whence and how 
and why the government came, will establish an abiding 
patriotism, — abiding, because it will spring from a love 
resulting from knowledge and not from a transitory emo- 
tion. 

The following reference books will be found helpful to 
pupils while doing the work given on pages 201-231 
inclusive : — 

Green's History of the English People, Yonge's Stories of English 
History, Dickens's ChilcVs History of England. 

Assign lesson 1, " Tlie Saxons," for pupils to study. 

Before asking pupils to read the lesson aloud, do the work suggested 
by the following outline : — 

The Saxons. — Have pupils find and locate Denmark on the map of 
Europe. 

Show pictures for study representing the country as it is at the 
present time. 

Lead pupils to form true mental pictures as it was in the fifth 
century. 

Lead them to see and understand the formation and protection of 
the Saxon villages. 

Note carefully the government of the Saxons. Compare with the 
government of the village, town or city in which children live. 

Lead pupils to describe the Saxons of the fifth century. 

Compare with the English and the Americans of the present time. 

Note the occupation of the people then ; compare with their occupa- 
tion now. 

Note their love of war and the weapons used ; their love of the sea 
and the ships used. Compare the weapons of war used then with 
those used now. Compare the ships used then with those used now. 

Have pupils trace on the maps the routes traversed by the Saxons. 

Find and locate England. 



114 



HOW TO TEACH READING. 



Have pupils read orally lesson 1. 

Have them study and read Longfellow's poem "The Skeleton in 
Armor." Have them memorize three stanzas, beginning with "Far in 
the Northern Land." 

After doing the above work have pupils write a composition com- 
paring Denmark of the fifth century and Denmark of the nineteenth 
century. 

Have pupils write a description of the Saxons of the fifth century. 

Assign lesson 11 for 
pupils to study. Have 
the m read silently 
Chapters I. and II. of 
Yonge's Stories of Eng- 
lish History. Before 
having the lesson read 
in class do the follow- 
ing work : — 



Britain. — See that 

the pupils know of the 

invasion of the Romans 

into Britain, led by 

■ Julius Csesar, 55 b.c. 

See that they have true mental pictures of Britain and the Britons 

at that time. 

Show them that nothing of importance was accomplished by Csesar. 

The Bomans in Britain. — Tell pupils of the Roman Conquest one 
hundred years later. 

Note the occupation of the Britons at that time. 

Note the number of tribes and government of each. Note the 
weapons used in battle ; chariots, — how constructed and how used. 

Note the religion of the Britons. 

Have pupils describe the Romans. 

Lead them to tell how the Romans conquered the Britons. 

Note the work done by missionaries. 

Note the improved condition of the country and of the people under 
Roman rule for five hundred years. 

Explain why the Romans left Britain. 

Have lesson 2 read in class. 

Pupils will now be interested in reading Ancient England and the 
Bomans, Chapter I.; ChiUVs Histonj of England, by Dickens. 




REGULAR SERIES — FOURTH READER. 115 

Assign lesson 3, " The New England," for study. 

Yonge's Stories of English History, Chapters III., IV. and V. 

Do the following work before the oral reading of lesson 3. 

Note the England which the Saxon pirates found. 

Compare with the England or Britain which the Romans found. 

Tell the story of the English Conquest. 

BesuU of the English Conquest. — The Britons were forced to move 
into what are now Wales and Scotland. Locate Wales and Scotland. 

Britain became again a savage, heathen country. 

Note the government of the Saxons ; compare with their govern- 
ment in Denmark. 

Note the change of name of the war leader and the formation of 
numerous kingdoms. 

Note the cause of the numerous kingdoms being united into three. 
Locate these kingdoms. 

Note the work of the missionaries during the three hundred years 
of Saxon rule. 

Note the churches which were built throughout the land. 

Note the changes in the customs of the people. Note their progress. 

The Northmen. — Tell or have pupils tell the story of the Northmen 
from Norway. Locate Norway. 

The three Saxon kingdoms united. Cause of union. 

The English became one people under one king. 

Have pupils read in class lesson 8. 

They can now read intelligently Ancient England under the Earhj 
Saxons. 

Assign for study lesson 4, " King Alfred the Great." 
In connection with this have pupils read Alfred the Great ; Dickens's 
Child'' s History of England, Chapter III. ; Green's History of the 
English People, pages 75-81 ; Yonge's Stories of English History, 
Chapter IV. 

Have pupils tell the story of King Alfred. 

Have them write a description of King Alfred's character. 

Lead them to see that England was ruled by Saxon kings until the 
year 1066. 

Have children write a composition comparing the Roman reign of 
Britain and the Saxon reign of England. 

Assign for study lesson 5, " The Normans. " 

Assign for outside reading, Dickens's Child'' s History of England, 



116 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

Chapters VII. and VIII.; Yoiige's Stories of English History, Chap- 
ters VII. and VIII. 

The Normans. — Have pupils find and locate Normandy. 

Lead them to see that Normandy was settled during King Alfred's 
reign by pirate Northmen. Note the change and progress of these 
Normans within one hundred years. 

For what were they especially noted ? 

Lead children to know the principal points of the Norman Conquest. 

Tell the pupils of the Battle of Hastings. Green's History of the 
Etiglish People, pages 113, 114. 

Note that at the close of this battle, in the year 1066, William, 
Duke of Normandy, became king of England. 

Note the form of government under Norman rule. 

Note the events which led to the Great Charter. 

Note the object of Magna Charta. 

Note some of the sixty-three things of which it speaks. 

Note the promise each king was compelled to make at the time he 
was crowned. 

Have pupils read in class lesson 5. Have them study and read les- 
son 6. 

Have pupils read lessons 1-6 inclusive, consecutively. 

Have pupils write the story of "The Growth of the Country." 

For the study of " Columbus " see outline given on page 94. 

For the study of the " Indians " see outline given on page 92. 

Compare their mode of living with that of the Saxons and the 
Britons. 

Note the way in which each tribe was governed. Compare the gov- 
ernment of the Indians with that of the Saxons. 

Have pupils describe the dress of an Indian brave. 

Have them write a composition comparing the Indians and the 
Saxons. 

In a corresponding way teach other units of work given in "Our 
Government and People." 

Direct pupils in their reading to a better understanding of the sub- 
ject ; in their talk, to better expression and understanding. Preserve 
in all a connected outline of general facts from the invasion of Britain 
by the Saxons to the present time. 



REGULAR SERIES — FIFTH READER. 

The work and study which the children have been re- 
quired to do in using the preceding books of this series 
have given them experience in categories of knowledge that 
represent the great movements or achievements in scientific 
research, that knowledge which has so much to do with 
making the social world what it is and which has stamped 
upon it its own character. 

Keys to the broad lines of knowledge have been given. 
What is meant by a key or interpreting nucleus to be 
secured by experience may be illustrated by the work 
required as suggested in the outlines on "Vapor'' and "Our 
Beautiful World." 

Having an understanding of these subjects, the child may 
easily be led to understand a mass of literature on these 
interesting phenomena, which, without this foundation in 
experience, would be to him largely a sealed book, though 
he were led, driven, made to pronounce in reading, or even 
to commit to memory, the words in which it is found. By 
this is meant a body of pure literature, whose office is to 
please and cultivate rather than to instruct and cultivate. 
"A Description of Niagara," "'A Description of a Storm at 
Sea," Holmes's "Chambered Nautilus" and "The Living 
Temple," Gray's "Elegy written in a Country Churchyard," 
Bryant's "Waterfowl," Proctor's "The Sea," Ruskin's 
" Sunset," represent this literature. 

" I thought the sparrow's note from heaven, 
Singing at dawn on the elder bough ; 
I brought him home in his nest at even, 
He sings the song, but it pleases not now, 
For I did not bring home the river and sky, 
He sang to my ear, — they sang to my eye." 
117 



118 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

One must get close to nature to know it well ; must learn 
much of birds and flowers ; must commune with river and 
sky as a lover, to understand how Mr. Emerson could see in 
them the enchanting part of bird song. 

" Ye banks and braes o' bonnie Doon, 
How can ye bloom sae fresh and fair ? 
How can ye chant, ye little birds, 
And I sae weary, fii' o' care ? " 

No dictionary can define for the student this most mas- 
terful contrast of English tongue; no grammar or rhetoric 
explain it; no eloquent master develop it. He alone can 
know and feel its full force who, though life may have 
given to him the darkest sorrow, knows by experience of 
the caroling of birds, of floAvery banks, of chattering brooks 
and of carpeted meadow lands stretching to shaded nooks 
in the hillside beyond. 

The child rightly prepared in experience, when reading, 
knows, because he has made the knowledge by which and 
with which he learns it when he sees the symbols ; Avhat he 
reads is his own, because he has added to it that which was 
his by discovery. He understands what he reads, and is 
deeply interested in it as a statement of truth, because he 
knows exactly the processes of nature wherein the truth 
lies ; these processes he images as he reads, by the memories 
established by doing and seeing. Eeading to him is at once 
easy, pleasurable and enriching. 

The boy or girl having had this training is prepared to 
read critically selections from accepted authorities — ac- 
cepted alike for their authenticity and for their literary 
merit. These selections should treat of the same or closely 
related subjects, that the reader may learn to compare, 
understand and estimate the value of different modes of 
thought on kindred subjects, different ways of expressing 
kindred thoughts and impressions, as well as to receive 
training in seeing critically by use of represented fact, and 



REGULAR SERIES — FIFTH READER. 119 

ill thinking- independently and sequentially after the exami- 
nation of represented thought. The reading lesson of 
advanced grade, no less than the object lesson, should train 
the pupil to see accurately, connectedly and broadly, and 
to think with corresponding accuracy and breadth. 

The first four parts of the Fifth Reader of this series 
have been arranged to afford opportunity for the kind of 
reading above referred to. 

Part I. consists of a number of articles, by as many dis- 
tinguished authors, treating of various phenomena of inani- 
mate nature. 

Part II. furnishes a variety of reading on closely allied 
subjects in the world of animate nature. 

The selections of Part III. relate exclusively to patriot- 
ism or to subjects underlying a true and correct patriotism. 

Part IV. is composed of a number of units or groups of 
selections, each of which is distinct in itself, relating to the 
humanities. 

The teacher Avill find that the gradation of the work is 
easy, while the arrangement is logical. It will be found 
desirable and most profitable to teach each of the parts 
or units above mentioned as an entirety, to be read and 
studied as a whole apart from other matter. 

The learner, after some practice in unified miscellaneous 
reading, should read and study masterpieces of literature, 
that he may know and appreciate them as such ; know their 
authors and their relative standing in the field of literature, 
English and American. 

Pield work only gives opportunity for intelligent classi- 
fication, and must precede it. This is no less true in a 
profitable and consistent study of literature than in the 
study of natural phenomena. This field work should be 
begun as soon as the pupil is competent to do such work 
intelligently. 



120 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

Part V. offers opportunity for field work in literature of 
the most profitable kind. 

Opportunity is given for the continuous study of the 
works of a single writer. Complete selections, both in 
prose and poetry, are given. Children, like their elders, 
enjoy the whole story, and read with eagerness a book or 
poem, when they would not take time for more than a 
glance at a short selection from the same. 

A good biography of each author and an analysis of one 
or more of his Avritings is given. The analyses of these 
literary wholes will suggest to the teacher plans for study- 
ing other selections. 

It is confidently believed that a proper study of the 
selections given will cause pupils to become so interested 
in the work that they will read with profit entire books of 
these authors. 

A book of the fifth-reader grade should furnish material 
for widely varied exercises in elocutionary drill. The selec- 
tions intended for special practice in good delivery found in 
the Fifth Eeader of this series are so chosen and so con- 
nected with other matter as not to mar the character of the 
work as a literary reading book, yet they afford at the same 
time an interesting and profitable variety, and their specific 
and varied character is such as to secure, if used properly, a 
rounded and symmetrical training. 

The literary notes and suggestions given in Part VI. 
have been prepared with much care. The teacher is 
requested to study carefully the suggestions to pupils 
contained in "Reading Aloud," Part VI., also suggestions 
given in "Figures of Speech" in Part V. of the Fourth 
Beader of this series. 



THE ALTERNATE SERIES. 

This series treats of subjects drawn largely from the 
pupils' environment. Children have an interest in any 
material thing that they can handle, examine and talk 
about and try to make, but their interest soon dies out 
unless there is something new to lead them on, something 
new to be discovered in the material which they handle. 
Science material presents never-ending opportunities for 
discovery of the new to children. Interest never tires in 
dealing with this material, because it is compensated by 
new knowledge in every effort; it is gratified, encouraged, 
though never satisfied. 

In the preparation for reading the text, the children are 
given opportunity to discover knowledge and to exercise 
their bodies and minds in correlation in getting knowledge. 
Little by little they are gaining a certain amount of organ- 
ized knowledge containing elements which enable them to 
understand and to assimilate new knowledge found in sym- 
bols. They are given opportunity to develop every form 
of expression, — expression by making, modeling, paint- 
ing, drawing, writing; to express their own thoughts, not 
merely to reproduce the thoughts of others. Opportunity 
is afforded to read many selections treating of one general 
topic, each succeeding selection growing out of the preced- 
ing one, by which it is understood. The children read 
choice poems, — gems of literature relating to the subjects 
studied, — thereby leading them to see the artistic and poetic 
sides. 

Broadly and radically there are two kinds of work 
required in the use of these books: one is that of giving 

121 



122 HOW TO TEACH KEADING. 

the child an opportunity to make the beginnings of an 
education by experience ; that of establishing interpreting 
nuclei, and of giving direction to doing and to knowledge 
getting in satisfying impulse, that of beginning the sym- 
metrical structure of mind ; the other is that of giving the 
child an opportunity for adding to and continuing educa- 
tion and growth by the use of reading matter, in getting 
more knowledge and a broader view of the universality of 
truth and its relations to life. The first must precede the 
second. In this series the second line of work is intro- 
duced early, while the child is getting experiences, bnt 
follows the first, step by step. This is the natural order 
of the child's mind before coming to school. The school 
must not change this order. 

The experiences given preparatory to the reading should 
be varied and numerous, and should be immediately fol- 
lowed by reading representing like kinds of knowledge, for 
the purpose of giving nourishment and strength to mind 
started in experience. The broader the experience, the 
more categories there are embraced by it, the broader may 
be the range of help and growth which the child may get 
from symbols. 

The world is full of graphic symbols representing the 
knowledge, ambitions and accomplishments of man, the 
formulated story of man. To the interpretation of these 
symbols the child is to be led. The teacher is to see 
that he gets experiences by means of which he can inter- 
pret them. How necessary that he be taught to read 
aright ! 

In the varied employments of the primary work the 
teacher must secure the establishing of broad and sequential 
lines of experience, and with each experience the graphic 
word symbol representing it must be given. As conversa- 
tion proceeds between teacher and pupil, natural, uncon- 
strained, but correct, the results appear to the eye of the 
child on the blackboard in large, correct, simple, script forms. 



THE ALTERNATE SERIES. 123 

The child reads his own words representing his own know- 
ledge. His interest in these forms is great, perhaps not any 
less and it may be greater, than it was in the objects or 
processes by association with which he created the know- 
ledge. The forms stamp themselves vividly on his mind, 
and to realize them as a product of himself he makes them 
on the board with chalk or on paper with pencil, after the 
forms made by the teacher have been removed. The action 
of eye and hand has made the form a part of the knowledge. 
The three processes, — making knowledge, expressing it 
orally, expressing it in script, — are carried on simulta- 
neously, as nearly as three processes by the same person 
can be simultaneous. He discovers that the lesson in his 
reader represents that which he has experienced, thus caus- 
ing him to fully realize the exact purpose and value of 
symbols. How necessary that the text in his early reading 
books be on lines of knowledge representing his know- 
ledge making! This is the nature of the text given in 
"The Normal Course in Reading." This is what charac- 
terizes the series. 

The series deals with truth. The child is given oppor- 
tunity to make images of definite experiences the truthful- 
ness of which the teacher knows. Fairy tale and folk-lore 
stories are given for elaboration and further application 
after experiences have been had by which they may be 
interpreted. Truthfulness as opposed to error is the first 
requisite of language as representative. To insure truthful- 
ness in teaching language, the teacher must know what is 
in the child's mind. This cannot be done by the use of 
folk-lore, fable and myth, at an early stage in mind growth. 
Fairy tale and folk-lore are not more interesting to the child 
than are the facts of nature which surround and affect him 
without number. No fairy tale is so interesting to the child 
as the facts of nature, especially those which he has dis- 
covered himself, the knowledge of which he has himself 
attained by his own act. This is psychic law. 



124 HOW TO TEACH READING. 

A fairy tale founded on and enriching a fact that the 
child has discovered may be of great interest to him, and 
may be given him with much profit ; but giving the fairy 
tale before the discovery of the fact is a reversal of nature's 
order of teaching. 

The moral effect of a course of reading which deals with 
truth and permits only images of truth, and leads to and 
induces productive imaginings by combinations of truth, is 
to arouse self-activities leading to the true and beautiful in 
life, which make for these qualities in character. 

When the reading work is thus conducted, teachers may 
know what they are doing. When based upon fairy tales, 
results may appear brilliant if the work is well done, but 
teachers cannot know the moral tendency of their work, and 
therefore be sure of what they are doing. The unreal is an 
unsafe influence from which to get directing tendencies for 
developing psychic force. 

The suggestions, plans and outlines given in this treatise 
on reading show fully the method of teaching the '^Alter- 
nate Series." 

In this series the beginning of the use of literature is 
that which is given to enrich the work in experience 
getting. The teacher may introduce the subject by 
story, myth or song, relating to the subject, but not given 
in the child's reader. (He himself discovers that many 
of his reading lessons are so introduced.) Investigation 
and discovery enriched by literature make the subject so 
interesting, so delightful to the child, that the drudgery 
of learning to read, to spell and to write, is reduced to 
the minimum. 

A lesson is to be given, — one of a series. The child 
hears the teacher repeat — it may be from Longfellow — 
something, brief if necessary, much longer if it is possible 
for the teacher to give it, about birds. As the poem (or 
story) proceeds — 



THE ALTERNATE SERIES. 



125 



"Learned of every bird its language, 
Learned their names and all their secrets, 
How they built their nests in summer, 
Where they hid themselves in winter, 
Talked with them where'er he met them, 
Called them Hiawatha's chickens" — 

the teacher sketches on the board, tree, stream, flower and 
bird, each in its appropriate place in the composition, mak- 




ing a pleasing picture. The children tell of birds they 
know, that they have seen, giving their names and tell- 
ing where they have seen them. They talk freely. The 
bird in the room for study is examined; every child takes 
part. Other poems are repeated ; another picture is drawn, 
or the first added to; children talk of birds at home, of 
birds in the wood, of birds in the meadow. During all this 
exercise language is corrected when wrong. The examina- 
tion of the bird is continued. A bird story is told by the 
teacher. A sentence given by some child is put on the 
board by the teacher. The process is repeated several 
times. This the children read and re-read as the teacher 
writes it again and again, and copy from memory. For the 
first time they see the word bird; they learn it by sight. 
They make it in good script, and with it other words used 
in expressing what the sentence gives. 

The lessons on the bird are continued. The peculiarities 
of form and habits, and many facts of profit and interest, 
are found out and given by the children in written Ian- 



126 



HOW TO TEACH READING. 



guage. New literature is repeated to further enrich the 
subjectj giving to it added interest and delight. None of 
the literature is learned, however ; it is not given for that 
purpose. The full, rounded work thus done, the facts thus 
discovered, — and they are many, — are put into reading 
matter made by the children, written by them and read by 
them. Now they read the lessons in the reader, and other 
matter which they may find relating to the subject. They 
may read the stories and poems that were repeated to them, 
or text that gives additional information. 

A lesson is to be given, one of a series of which " Flowers " 
is the subject. See Alternate Third Keader, pages 73-100. 

The lesson may be introduced by having the pupils sing 
a song relating to flowers, learned in previous study of the 
subject. 

While the children are singing, the teacher sketches on 




the blackboard, stream, meadow, trees and flowers, making a 
pleasing picture representing the song. 

Then the children talk of the beauty and use of flowers 
that they know ; of their homes, whether in shady or sunny 
places, in wet or dry soil. A plant in bloom is presented 
for examination, — its color, fragrance and beauty noted; 
then the plant is studied in its environments. The flowers 
are examined by the pupils ; their size, shape, position and 
arrangement noted and talked about; the parts are examined 



THE ALTERNATE SERIES. 127 

and the sliape and uses of parts are talked about. Care is 
exercised in having pupils talk well. Talking well implies 
much more than talking with grammatical accuracy. It 
involves structure of composition, the sequential arrange- 
ment of thought, and the use of the idiom that properly 
represents such arrangement. As the talking lesson pro- 
ceeds, the new words and idioms are written on the black- 
board, that the children may learn their forms — now is the 
time for them to learn them. 

For seat work they may reproduce the work, exercising 
the same care in the sequential arrangement of thought 
that was used in talking. They may paint or draw the 
flowers, paint or draw the parts, paint or draAv the plant, 
paint or draw a picture representing a story relating to the 
flower. 

The lessons on flowers are continued by the teacher ; other 
poems are given; a story or myth related to the flower 
studied is told. The children talk about what they know ; 
they write about it in sequential, correct composition. They 
do and learn, find out and think. They know what they 
are to do. They work for a purpose. The stories and 
myths are reproduced in good English ; then the reproduc- 
tions are read. The pupils compare one flower with another 
and write the comparison. There is no uncertain work. 

While doing this work the children are learning to read 
by reading many stories, descriptions, and poems based on 
the work which are given in their reading book. They are 
able to read understandingly, not only the regular reading 
lessons, but the many selections which supplement it. 
They have developed for themselves a good degree of 
power (power is the memory of doing), and have gained a 
knowledge of forms in doing this. The knowledge of the 
birds afid flowers which they have acquired is the key they 
use with this power. The reading of that which corrobo- 
rates what has been found out by investigation gives confi- 
dence in self to a wonderful degree, and is a promoter of 



128 



HOW TO TFvVCH HEADING. 



effort in further research. The strength that comes from 
this confidence is used for helping self to become more 
helpful. This is the kind of reading matter that is the 
easy step toward that which is given as a source of new 
knowledge, an important matter for consideration. This is 
the second step in the use of books in the work of the 
primary schools. 

Throughout the series literature is first used as environ- 
ment, an enriching source from which, or a force by which, 
interest is stimulated. It lifts the subject in hand into the 
realm of safe emotional delights. Yet it is at no time 
intangible ; its effects are legitimate and rational, safe yet 
satisfying. It is next used as a source of knowledge. New 
knowledge of the subject is secured by use of the very 
power the subject has itself induced, and becomes a means 
of refinement, and also a field for drill in fixing forms and 
correlating memories for further interpreting uses in future 
school or life work. 




66CI n 



li\/f 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




